


Silvered Grey, Amaranth Violet, and Cobalt Blue

by rylee_kai



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged Up Percy Jackson Character(s), Demigod AU, M/M, Rick Riordan Demigod Universe | Riordanverse, the canon pj ships are there don't worry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:48:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27242212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rylee_kai/pseuds/rylee_kai
Summary: Demigod universe where our silvered grey, amaranth violet, and cobalt blue heroes have fates woven deep with the history and future of the Olympians and Gods themselves. Unfortunately there is an enemy with a powerful influence on the mist who is making things quite confusing and complicated for...literally everyone.How will our favorite Voltron characters fare in this tale?
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 13





	1. Prologue

The Summer Solstice had become a day of grand celebration over the Greco-Roman Empire. Many of the great heroes and demigods were offered seats at the dinner table after the grand meeting, some demigods were even offered voices at the grand meeting. 

With all the gods preoccupied it’s never really foreseen for there to be great feuds or battles on this day. That was everyone’s fatal mistake that day. 

Something evil fell over Camp Half Blood that fateful summer solstice. It had been almost a decade since the end of the Battle of Long Island and the defeat of Gaea. No heroes were there to protect it, or at least no one who thought they were heroes. It was hard to compete against the tales of Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Nico Di Angelo, Leo Valdez, Piper McClean, even Grover Underwood. 

* * *

**Keith**

“No, no you can’t, you aren’t saying that,” I yelled, pushing away from the table. “You are lying, those words aren’t coming out of your mouth.” 

A hand came to rest on my shoulder, but I pushed it away, fire, rage, adrenaline rushed into my veins, “You are lying. You have to be.” 

“Keith, please sit down and listen,” Shiro tried pleading, but I wasn’t having any of it. 

“Not until you tell me it isn’t true,” I yelled again, lifting my plate and throwing it through the air. I wasn’t sure where the pure rage was flowing from, probably some Son of Ares thing. 

Someone yelped and started yelling insults until I assumed they saw whose plate it was. I may only be fourteen, but I wasn’t one a lot of people messed with. I was an irrational son of Ares, ruthless in the arena and during capture the flag, I could pin down an opponent with my eyes alone. 

Well everyone except Shiro...and well Lance. 

“Keith, please, do we have to do this today, it’s our birthday,” Lance said, reaching up for my shoulder again to pull me down into the bench. Perhaps there was a reason for the rule of sitting only with your cabin members, at least my cabin members wouldn’t try to quiet me, they would rile me up...which maybe wasn’t a good thing either, but I wasn’t thinking exceptionally rationally at the moment. 

“I don’t care if it’s our birthday, on our wondrous birthday Shiro decided to reveal that he is leaving for college. He is leaving us Lance. Jumping ship.  _ Abandoning _ us,” I bit back, I could feel the cold bristling through me, so cold that Lance seemed to let go in favor to warm himself. 

“That’s not fair,” Shiro bristled back, everyone in this damn camp knew how strong the A word was here.  _ Abandon _ , because one way or another we all knew abandonment and it didn’t rest easy on anyone. 

“Yeah Keith, he isn’t abandoning us or you, he is just taking the next step in his life, he turned nineteen today. He would never completely leave us though, and you know that, so can you relax?” Lance said, there was a new worry in his voice that I ignored. 

“No I am furious, we are a family, and he is choosing the danger out there over his own damn family,” I said, throwing my fists into the table.

“You need to cool your temper right now Keith,” Pidge snapped from down the table, the Daughter of Athena, always thinking she was better than everyone else, but especially children of Ares, especially  _ me _ . 

I pulled my knife from behind my back and thrust it into the table, the gold and iron blade, swirled beautifully together. It was more than dangerous. Stygian Iron was an element very few could get their hands on, and if it weren’t the only thing I had from before this damn camp and it weren’t enchanted to return to my holster I am sure someone from the underworld would have tried to pry the damn thing from my hands. 

“Are you seriously threatening people now? You know the rule about that knife,” Shiro said, his face suddenly stone cold, serious. Yes, while the blade was enchanted to me, there were three people who could still wield it therefore preventing it from returning to me. Those three people were Hades, Nico, and Hazel. It was a metal of the underworld after all. So when I was found with it, tumbling into camp an agreement was made that so long as I never threatened anyone with the blade and only use it against monsters I could keep it. 

“And you know the promise you made me,” I nearly screeched. At that point everyone had either found a spectator seat outside the dining pavilion or run back to their cabins. Soon someone would retrieve Coran and Chiron and then all hell would break loose. Okay, maybe not all hell, but still those two were not fun to have on your badside. 

“I’m not breaking that promise and you know it, if you could get it through that thick skull of yours,” Shiro grunted back, looking away from me. Yeah, if he knew he wasn’t breaking it why couldn’t he look at me? 

Lance stood slowly, moving to rest his hand on mine, to try and coax me to put the knife away, “Really can we just talk about this?”

“Oh because you just love hearing yourself speak, it’s not like you could defend yourself against this anyway. What would you do charmspeak me to put it away Son of Aphrodite, oh that’s right, you don’t even have that gift from your mother,” I barked at the bronze skinned boy, what was he going to do? Try and fight me? As if the Son of Aphrodite could hold up against me, Son of Ares. 

Lance’s face twisted in anger, “You did not just say that to me. You clearly aren’t in your right mind.” Lance turned away quickly marching away from the pavilion. Hunk and Pidge both looked ensure what to do, sometimes Lance just needed time to himself, and also their eyes were trained on me, the most volatile of all of us. 

“Keith your blade,” Shiro’s voice came out steely and sick. His voice managed to lull the rage in my mind, only to see...blood on the blade. 

Before either of us knew what we were doing we were running after Lance, shouting his name, but that stupid boy had managed to get fairly far on those long legs of his. We were chasing him through the forest. 

“Lance stop, stop!” I shouted, the concern ebbing through my voice. If we didn’t find him...well I didn’t know. I honestly wasn’t familiar enough with the blade, I didn’t wield it intentionally against Lance, so did that mean he was going to be okay? I wasn’t sure, but the fear settled heavy in my gut. 

Shiro was in front of me someways, he stopped briefly before the line we all knew, the edge of the camp, but sure enough twenty feet ahead was a boy running through the trees in a green jacket. Shiro rested his hand on the imaginary barrier before relenting and pushing through shouting Lance’s name as he took off after the blue-eyed boy. 

“Shit,” I said before jumping through the imaginary barrier as well. Bad memories twisted inside me thinking about Shiro leaving the barrier, it was why he had his prosthetic arm, now it was an amazing prosthetic arm designed by Hunk and Pidge, built by their brothers and sisters, but still…

I also hadn’t left the protection of the barrier ever. I was ten when I crossed over. That was four years ago. I knew it wouldn’t feel different physically, and yet I still felt naked running away from the camp. 

“Lance!” I shouted before I came to a clearing, a sob ripping through my throat as I said the name again only to see he had collapsed, cradled in Shiro’s arms. 

“What do we do?” I screamed, coming to kneel next to both of them. The cut on his hand radiated a sickly purple, the same color of my blade when wielded. I took the hand into my own and cried, trying to will away any evil deed my knife had done to Lance. I hadn’t meant to get so riled up, just...thinking about Shiro leaving. It wasn’t easy. 

Shiro saved me, protected me, kept me safe for three years on the streets. There were rumors of a place that could be safe. And Shiro got us to that place, rolling down the hill, running from monsters. He was my brother, even though I was a son of Ares and he was a son of Athena. We had each other’s backs. I always thought we would be together, even though we had a gaping five year difference, and that difference brought us right here. 

Talk about the worst birthday gift in the history of the world.

And it only got worse as Lance shivered in our arms growing colder every second.

* * *

**Shiro**

I was the nineteen year old, the oldest, the adult, the responsible one. Yet in this moment I wanted nothing more than to be the fifteen year old who stumbled into this camp my mind being blown and my world changing before my very eyes, but in all the good ways. Right here with Lance dying in my arms the world was changing in all the bad ways.

Keith was sobbing asking me what we should do, what he should do. But I didn’t know. I had no idea what to do. Stygian Iron, condemning souls to the very blade that dealt the injury. 

“Take out your knife!” I said with desperation as an impossible idea crossed my mind. 

“What? No it’s dangerous, look what it did!” Keith’s voice was wrecked, despite all the hateful things he may have said about Lance, I knew better. I knew how much Keith cared for the nearly dead boy in our arms. 

“Now!” I shouted, not giving him room to think, and sure enough he pulled it. “Rest the blade over the cut, and take my hand.” 

With Lance cradled between our legs, my hand entangled with Keith’s and my other hand coming to rest on the hilt of the blade over Keith’s. I tried to think of Lance. Keith seemed to get the idea without me saying anything. The blade glowed a surprising blue color, a deep, cobalt blue, just like Lance’s eyes. 

“Is it working?” Keith croaked, his violet eyes catching the blue in such a mesmerizing way. 

“I don’t know yet,” Shiro answered honestly, the fear still laced in his voice, but he never stopped thinking about Lance in those moments, hoping to draw his soul or whatever out of the blade and back into his body. 

Keith and Lance were both only fourteen, so young, they didn’t deserve to be going through stuff like this, but then again, it wasn’t like any of us had a choice. Our parents decided to get frisky and leave us hopelessly defenseless in a world of monsters-

The sound of beating wings and sickening screeches surprised us, we were sitting defenseless other than the knife we were using to save Lance. I shivered at the thought of what it could be, my shoulder pulsing violently at the memory I shook my head. No, I had to focus on Lance, we had to help Lance before whatever treat landed in front of them. 

“Shiro!” Keith shouted, I followed his eyes to the blade, it stopped glowing blue, which for now they were going to have to hope was a good sign as something came diving down for them. Beady, glowing, yellow eyes made their presence known. Three sets of them, it wasn’t that dark being solstice and all, but they were moving remarkably fast. 

“We need to defend Lance,” I shouted, trying to find something to use in the fight, the only thing of use was a large fallen branch, I shrugged, I guess that was going to have to work. 

Keith nodded, setting himself up one side of Lance, his blade drawn.

“Taking souls from their rightful place huh?” one of the bats screeched, their voice terrible and grating. One landed before us giving me all the clues I needed, the leathery wings, yellow gnarled fangs, glowing eyes. 

“The Kindly Ones,” I muttered, in slight disbelief. Remembering how not even Percy managed to keep them off his back until he found Hades’ Helm and returned it to them. 

“Ahh so you have heard of us, I was getting worried the young heroes had forgotten us,” another snarled from above. 

“His death was an accident,” Keith shouted. “I didn’t mean to use the blade!” 

“A soul is a soul, deary,” one of them said, diving for Keith’s head, he ducked and swung his blade blindly in the air. “And we have come to collect.” 

“No, not today,” I said, swinging the branch around knocking the one in front of us over, but they quickly got up flying into the air. 

“What is this?” one of them said, I had no idea what it was they were referring to, until a cold blanket seemed to surround us. The same feeling of walking next to the beach early in the morning, the dew heavy in the air. 

I turned to see a blue-green glow surrounding Lance who was now standing with a wave behind him.  _ What the ambrosia? _

“I think it’s time you went back to where you belong,” Lance shouted the wave crashing over all of us in the clearing, knocking the bat creatures to the ground. It didn’t hold the creatures down for long, and nowhere near long enough for Keith or I to ask Lance what the hell that was. 

The Furies climbed into the air again releasing their whips, one of them snarled, “It can’t be? A son of the sea?” 

They dove for Lance, and I rushed forward, but in a moment that can only be described as slow motion I felt electricity crackle through my body, I could feel the air moving around me every bat of the wings, I could feel the clouds in the sky above. I could feel it all, and before I knew it I was sending a bolt of lightning through the air at one of the furies. 

It hit dead on, sending the fury over the cliff into the cold water below. Lance and Keith looked at me with awe, and in a similar glow to Lance’s, I was surrounded with silver and grey. 

“A son of the sky?” another Fury asked with near confusion. 

“How is this possible?” the other said. 

It didn’t matter though, we weren’t standing down, and apparently neither were they, they came onto me with full force, both whips wrapping tightly around my arms, I screamed in pain, every inch of my body felt like it was on fire. 

“NO!” Keith shrieked, and suddenly both Furies landed and retracted their whips, they looked like they were being forced to move against their wills, and my eyes fell on my adopted younger brother who was surrounded in a reddish-purple glow. 

“A son of the dead,” one grunted. 

“What have the Fates done now?” the other said straining through Keith’s grasp. 

“I think the question is what have I done?” a cloaked figure entered the clearing, striding their way over to the Furies or so I thought until they stepped in front of me and poured something on me. I scoffed in confusion until I doubled over in pain, it was far worse than the fire whips. No this made every cell on my body turn and attack itself. 

“What did you do to him?” Lance yelled, running to my side, I was thrashing unbearably, he couldn’t even get a good look at me. 

His glow seemed to brighten, along with Keith’s. I couldn’t tell if mine was or not, I could barely make out figures anymore, everything was going blurry. 

“Water from the River Acheron, water of pain,” one of the Furies grunted, their voice sounding just as confused as Lance’s. What in the hell was going on here? I wasn’t sure, but I was on the verge of blacking out when the neigh of a horse cut through the air, before I could look, it was too late, I cripled over. 

* * *

**Lance**

I had seen him in passing, the great and famous Percy Jackon, I doubted he wanted much to do with me, after all I was a lowly son of Aphrodite, nothing compared to the Legend Percy Jackson or even Piper McClean one of the Heroes of Olympus and child of Athena. I managed to kill myself by knicking my hand on a blade. I didn’t realize until I was already running away from the camp. I was too embarrassed to stop, so I just kept going, and going, and going. 

My body gave out in this clearing, Shiro’s eyes stormy, grey, and full of concern. It made my heart throb in those final moments. Hopefully he and Keith could sort out their differences, I hated when they fought. 

Yet, somehow against all the odds I was alive, and had summoned a giant wave to protect two of my dearest friends. Then some psycho stranger decided to pour the epitome of pain on Shiro who just crumpled over into my arms. 

Percy Jackson fell into the clearing jumping off his famous steed Blackjack, he nodded to one of the furies, “Mrs. Dodds, it’s never a pleasure.” Thalia Grace dropped next to Percy armed with her silver bow and quiver, she seemed to sparkle like the moon even in the setting sun. Another horse neighed, a caramel colored steed bringing the two children of Hades, Nico and Hazel. 

Thalia smiled solemnly at me before turning to the stranger, Nico and Percy taking stride next to her to face the stranger across the clearing. It was Hazel who rushed over to my side. I had never met her before, preferring the summer camp vibes rather than military camp ones, but didn’t we all know the stories? She had seen more of life and death and the world than anyone, well any mortal. 

“Water of Acheron, oh I am so sorry,” she said, touching Shiro’s forehead. “I don’t know if I can save him.” Nonetheless a deep gold glow enveloped Shiro, I held tightly onto his hand, Keith had rushed over too, figuring the three heroes could handle whatever was going on over yonder. Keith took Shiro’s other hand, and the glows that had engulfed us earlier began to shine brighter than ever. Startling everyone in the clearing. I was sure if I looked up we would have been a beacon of light fighting glory against even the sun on his special day.  _ Sorry Apollo _ . 

“What?” Hazel said, confusion crossed her face and didn’t seem to leave, not even when Shiro seemed to start encasing in metals and gems. Hazel grabbed our hands before we were turned gem too, but Keith and I just stood in awe as the silver glow of their friend began to fade and pulse through the gems. 

“What the fuck?” I asked, finally registering what happened. Keith let out a miserable cry and fell onto his brother, banging at the jeweled chest. 

“That should do nicely,” the stranger said from across the clearing, looks like our glorious heroes were a little too enthralled in the light show to be taking care of the enemy. She lowered her hood to reveal startling white hair and scars along her either cheek. “We shall meet again, heroes, but for now,” she said before blowing a kiss with her hand. I was enveloped in mist, it was overwhelming, no, no it was smothering. 

Before I could even stand I had passed out. The darkness taking me. 

When I woke I was being spoon fed ambrosia, Hunk’s concerned face the first I was met with. He yelped for joy and dove into me, a hug that threatened the air in my lungs. 

“H-hunk can’t breath,” I mumbled trying to push him off me.

“Y-you ran off with a cut from Keith’s knife I-I thought you were going to die,” Hunk said, defending himself as he slowly peeled himself off. I remembered the cut on my hand, but my brain felt fuzzy trying to remember everything else. 

Pidge took the opportunity to jump on top of me once Hunk let go. I relented the freedom of my lugs to them.

“What happened after that?” I asked confused, my head throbbing as I tried harder to remember. 

“Well, I was kind of hoping you would be able to answer that,” I looked up to meet the famous sea green eyes, he was standing with the help of a beautiful blonde haired woman who I knew to be Annabeth Chase. They were quite the power couple, with a romance ready to take all the grammy’s. 

“Me?” I stuttered slightly before sitting up. 

“Yes, it would seem none of us can really remember what happened. We were all celebrating on Olympus when we got an emergency call from Chiron, some of his campers had gotten themselves into a difficult situation. We came down immediately, but I don’t remember anything beyond jumping off Blackjack,” Percy said, I was still a little awestruck that the man was talking to me, but I tried to focus. 

Suddenly a hand grabbed mine, startling me, but I relaxed at the familiar feeling of fingerless leather gloves, “Keith.”  _ Keith _ .  _ Keith and Shiro _ .  _ Shiro. They saved my life, they tried to save my life at least, but it took Shiro instead. Hazel tried to save him, but she ended up turning him into a gem statue. The Furies were upset because we were messing with forces we didn’t understand. The children of the big three came to defend us.  _

“No, no, no,” I said, suddenly shaking my head. “No, where is Shiro, no it wasn’t supposed to happen like this. Shiro was going to go to college, move on with his life, no!” 

No one could get me to stop for a while, the words tumbling out in circles until Keith grabbed my shoulders and shook, “Lance stop!” 

“I remember everything,” I sobbed pulling Keith closer, the boy stiff in my arms, of course he was still, I was the reason his brother died. I pushed him away immediately and jumped out of the infirmary bed. 

Everyone was shouting my name, and then I saw him. Thalia was struggling to maneuver the statue across the cabin yard. 

“Shiro!” I shouted before breaking into a sprint for the hero in my life. Shiro, someone I was sure was going to be a legend one day, stuck in gems and metals. No, no it wasn’t supposed to be this way. No this wasn’t right. I clung tightly to the statue, unwilling to let go. 

Thalia’s hand was in my hair, her other arm trying to tug me off the statue, “Lance, Lance come on, seeing him like this isn’t going to help.” She tried to comfort me, but nothing was going to work. I was responsible for Shiro’s death. One careless flick of my wrist and I had condemned his soul to a blade. How foolish and worthless could I be? Shiro’s future was removed right before his very eyes because of me. 

“It isn’t your fault Lance,” Thalia said, lifting me away from the statue. “It isn’t your fault.” 

It took all of the Ares Cabin to keep Keith from attacking Hazel and Nico, he was spitting insults at them, but they rolled right off the backs of children of Hades. Insults were nothing they weren’t used to. Was it really fair that Hazel was a beautiful women of color and Nico was an iconic gay, and they were children of Hades? The world really was a cruel place huh? 

They carried Shiro into the Hades cabin, no one would ever dare enter the cabin. It would give the siblings time to hopefully figure out whatever went wrong, maybe even figure out a way to bring Shiro back? Or was that just me being too hopeful? I didn’t know. Thalia continued to stroke my hair from the deck of cabin eight. 

I tried to remember simpler times, when I first came to the camp. Thalia leading the charge back here, three lost, confused, monster hunted six year olds. It was how Hunk, Pidge, and I took the youngest campers trophy from Annabeth, she wasn’t happy, not because of the title, but because no kid should have to run like we had. Speaking of the woman, she wandered through the clearing to sit next to us. 

“Sounds like you had quite the night,” Annabeth said, looking at me with a sad look in her eye, she always seemed to have that sad look in her eye when she talked to me.   
“It feels like it was my fault,” I whispered, only for the two women to hear. 

“You know Shiro, being one of my brothers, would never think that,” Annabeth responded, trying to provide some sort of reassurance, I didn’t know if it helped. I knew that too, I knew Shiro was too damn selfless to ever blame me, but it didn’t matter when I blamed myself. My stupid reckless self. 

“Apparently one of the Furies was fried pretty badly according to Nico, but they aren’t talking for some reason. Are you okay?” Annabeth asked the question targeted at Thalia. 

“Huh, I felt fine when I woke up, a little dizzy, but I don’t remember feeling drained. A lightning bolt also seems a bit excessive for an angry, annoying bat,” Thalia pondered, Lance didn’t remember much of the fight between the furies and the children of the big three, his focus that evening had been on Shiro and Shiro alone. 

“All of this seems a little strange, did you know Rachel gave a prophecy last night, it’s why Chiron and Coran couldn’t help,” Annabeth said, staring at the big house. “Rachel doesn’t remember any of it, apparently the Oracle wrote it on scroll and sealed it.” 

“A sealed prophecy? That seems weird,” Thalia pondered. “Well I will be happy if it doesn’t concern me, or any of you, and especially not you,” she said messing up my hair. 

“Hey watch it, he is a son of Aphrodite, they hate it when their hair gets messed up.” Lance’s eyes shot up at the voice, it was Keith, not being held onto by all the Ares kids. “I was wondering if I could steal him for a bit.” 

My eyes went wide, the last person I wanted to talk to right now is Keith. I had so much guilt riding in my stomach, this was all my fault. Shiro would still be here if not for me.  _ This is all my fault. Shiro would still be here. Should still be here. This is all my fault. Shiro should be here _ . 

“Can you stop thinking so loud,” Keith said, surprisingly gentle. I wasn’t sure when we got to the beach, but Keith plopped down despite hating the sand and gestured for me to sit next to him. I took a careful seat next to him, and to my surprise he took my hand in his. 

“Last night was a mix of blind rage, sobbing frantically, and nauseating dizziness,” Keith said, quite neutral. I wasn’t sure what to say back so I stayed silent. “I gave Nico my knife a little bit ago.” 

I gaped, “You did what?” 

“Yeah, after what it did to you, and ultimately Shiro, I just can’t trust myself with it. I don’t know enough about it. It’s too dangerous in my hands. Especially with my fits of anger and rage,” Keith said looking over the water, almost in a longing way, as if he wanted to talk into it and let it swallow him whole. 

“If you ask Nico I bet he can help you. Help you learn about the blade, help you calm your fits, he used to get them,” I tried to offer. I know how much the blade meant to Keith, and giving it up while losing Shiro, it wasn’t going to be easy. 

“No, no it’s okay. I don’t deserve that blade right now, maybe one day, but not right now,” Keith whispered, it sounded like he was trying to convince himself of the maybe one day part. This Keith was resigned, the loneliness setting in. I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t let Keith into the darkness alone. So out of nowhere I blurted-

“Do you hate me?” 

“What?” Keith looked up at me with cold violet, magenta eyes, offended that I would even ask such a question. “Of course I don’t hate you. What happened, well it was my fault really, if I didn’t have my knife out you never would have gotten hurt, but at the end of the day what Shiro did...if we assign blame we take away from his sacrifice.” 

I was a little surprised at that, it was very mature for a fourteen year old who had just lost his older brother. 

“Well can we make a promise then?” I said, tenderly, carefully. Knowing about Keith and Shiro’s promise to always take care of each other. Keith looked at me again, there was water welling in his eyes as he nodded lightly. “Can we promise to always have one another’s backs?” 

“I promise I will always have your back,” Keith said, without any other prompting, sticking out his pinky. 

“I promise I will always have your back,” I said back, wrapping my pinky in his. 

“It isn’t any good if we don’t swear it on the River Styx,” Keith said. 

“I’ve had enough of underworld rivers actually, maybe another day,” I said, unsure of where that came from. Keith looked up, also a little confused, but nodding in sentiment still. When had I come into contact with a river from the Underworld? I shook my head, sometimes you just have to go with your gut.

“Life is going to be different now,” Keith whispered into the air. 

“So, so different,” I whispered back. 

  
  
  



	2. Lance Flirts His Way to Victory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters will vary in length depending on who is talking and what is happening, some chapters may have more than one POV, others might just have one!

**Lance**

* * *

“So you’ve been practicing your sword skills without me?” 

“Yeah, jealous Mullet?” 

“Of you? Never.” 

“Not of me, of who I have been practicing with.” 

“Psh, no,” it was cute really, watching him stutter. “Why the hell would I be jealous of that. You are a pain in the ass and you never listen to me.” 

“I listen a lot more than you think, and watch too. Like when you messily tie your hair into ponytails to keep it from falling in your face when you fight. Or your purple eyes when you stare into the sunset. Or how your muscles ripple when you put on your armor. Or the way you rush almost recklessly into fights, the adrenaline coursing through you,” I said, and I knew I had him. Keith was staring directly at me with those pretty purple eyes. I leapt then, connecting our blades and twisting so Keith’s flew out of his hands. I bowed and kicked his legs out from under him, Keith landing roughly on his ass. I took my blade and pressed it against his chest plate.

“Looks like victory is mine Mullet, you should work on how easily you swoon,” I said with a proud smile. 

“You-you jackass, I should have known,” Keith sputtered, wrapping his leg around mine and tugging, effectively knocking me off balance and onto my own ass. 

“Hey technically it wasn’t even my idea, you have your brother to thank for that,” I nodded towards James who had a shit-eating grin on his face. I stood back up, trying to keep as much grace and poise as possible, then offered Keith a hand. “But I still disarmed you and had you down, so I take that as a win.” 

“Whatever loverboy,” Keith grunted, smacking my hand out of his way and getting up on his own. 

“Aww is Keith being a spoil sport?” a familiar voice beckoned, we both turned to see Pidge carrying some strange shaped devices. She and Hunk were always working on something new, let’s just hope this wasn’t one that was going to blow up in our faces, literally. 

“I am not, I just think that Lance’s methods should be qualified as cheating,” Keith snipped as he took the sword from my hands and picked up the one he used and put it back on the racks. Ever the gentleman, even when he was upset. 

“Well, consider this Mullet, I am the son of Aphrodite, shouldn’t I use all my skills in a fight, even flirting,” I said blinking big eyes at Keith, earning me a fierce roll of his eyes. I winked at him. Earning me a gentle punch in the gut, but I caught his hand before he could pull it back and snuck my fingers in between his. He tried to tug away, and by try I mean pretended to pull weakly away once. 

“Stop flirting, I don’t want another Capture the Flag incident on my hands,” Pidge said with a devilish smile. 

Keith and I both shook our heads remembering. Despite being on the same team, Keith and I managed to go head to head. I was using my beautiful body and quirky charm to distract someone from getting to our flag. Keith decided to try and cut the poor camper’s head off for even looking in my direction like that. An argument between Mullet and me quickly descended into chaos and we were sword fighting one another, leaving us both in the infirmary. 

“Seriously, it’s going to end up with one of you dead,” Hunk said shaking his head. 

Pidge continued, throwing the gadgets towards us as we approached, “Now try these things out. Hunk and I have been working on them for a while.” They were a little weird, kind of like a handle on a mug, but without the mug. 

“What are they?” Keith said, examining the tech, Hunk moved to caution him, but it was too late, a sword formed out of thin air and nearly cut Keith, making him jump in surprise and drop the tech to the ground where it returned to its original form. “Holy shit!” 

“We are thinking of calling them bayards, we got some help from the Hecate Cabin, I think they could be the new big hero weapon,” Pidge said, choking back the laugh at Keith’s usual rashness. 

I tentatively moved the bayard hand to hand before deciding on my right hand, it turned into an elegant blue and silver bow in my hands, weighted almost perfectly for my grip. I didn’t see any arrows appear, which gave me an idea. I tugged on the string, drawing it back, when sure enough an arrow appeared ready to fire. I focused on a pole on the other side of the arena, I let it fly, nailing it just above James’ head. He froze and turned angrily to yell, but saw it was me, I didn’t miss. 

The arrow above his head dissolved away into some form of magic, it was beautiful really, I turned to Hunk with a smile, “Well that’s pretty damn fancy, not gonna lie.” 

Hunk rested a hand on my shoulder, “I always forget what a great shot you are, sure you aren’t actually related to Apollo?” 

I shook my head laughing, “Years and years spent here tend to make you good at something,” I said as the bayard transformed back into its original form. I got an idea, thinking of how nice it would be if...the bayard transformed into a bracelet. 

“First of all, don’t be all humble for once in your life. You were a natural, you even had Artemis impressed. Second of all, you already got the hang of this bayard, and I have to admit now you have me quite impressed,” Hunk said, giving me a hug and lifting my wrist for Pidge to see my new bracelet. 

Keith glanced at my bracelet before focusing on his bayard, willing it into a leather cuff that wrapped around his wrist. Pidge lifted a necklace from around her neck and Hunk pointed to his bandana.

I wrapped my arms around the group, “Ahh, more matchy-matchy stuff!” I said referring to the watches Hunk and Pidge made us that turned into shields. 

“Get off me, I am still not over you cheating,” Keith said ducking out of the hug, trying to suppress his smile. He loved us and I knew it. 

“We were never dating, I can’t cheat on you,” I teased back before Keith blushed red and started to storm away. 

“Leave me alone you idiot. I am going to get lunch, join me when you are feeling like being less dumb!” Keith yelled. 

“When are you two just going to go on a damn date?” Pidge asked, trailing off in Keith’s direction pulling Hunk and me along with her

“Never little Pidgey,” I said as I watched our raven-haired friend disappear over a gentle hill. I would never go out with Keith despite having feelings for him, I would just be a constant reminder of Shiro, what happened that night, it was my fault, my foolishness. That was why...that way why I was leaving tonight. Tomorrow was my eighteenth birthday, I was no longer the six year old who stumbled into this camp with no one to take ownership of me. 

“I don’t understand, you both clearly like each other,” Hunk scoffed. I nodded, trying to see where they were coming from, they just wanted the two of us to be happy in this unfair world. 

“I know, but sometimes, it’s better to just leave friends as friends.” 

  
  



	3. Hunk Tries to Outsmart a Prophecy

**Hunk**

* * *

Someone was shaking me awake, my watch lit up and I glanced at the time, it was nearly three in the morning, why the hell would someone wake me up right now?

“Lance go away,” I groaned rolling over trying to hide my head in the sheets. 

“I am not Lance.” I nearly jumped out of bed at that voice, I turned and came face to face with Chiron. 

“Uh, sorry Chiron, what is it?” I quickly corrected before clambering out of bed. I was grateful Leo, Annabeth, and Nico headed the project for cabin expansion. Ever since the Battle of Long Island a lot more kids were being claimed and brought into the camp. You’d have thought with Camp Jupiter it would have evened out at some point, but nope. As the Hephaestus head counselor I got my own tiny room, which was nice, no fear of hitting my head on the ceiling anymore. The basement garage was permitted expansion as well, which made everyone giddy with workbench space, though, there wasn’t much surprise that we had already managed to overcrowd it with projects. 

The expansion, though, also meant that the private room of the head counselor could be invaded very easily by centaurs. 

“Come,” Chiron said quietly, it was vague, and well, very Chiron. I snuck my way out the door and before I knew it the horse was heaving me onto his back. The older centaur grunted a bit, yeah I wasn’t exactly a lightweight.

Across from us I saw Coran carrying a near sleeping Pidge. The four of us made our way to the Big House, which probably wasn’t a good sign. You didn’t want to be summoned to the Big House period, let alone at three in the morning on the Summer Solstice. 

Things were getting worse quickly, Mr. D sat in one of the couches, he gestured for Pidge and I to sit across from him. Pidge and I exchanged a look of confusion and curiosity, what was going on? 

See Mr. D had been relieved of his banishment to Camp Half Blood only three years after Pidge, Lance, and I had arrived. Mr. D happily moved back into his mansion on Mt. Olympus and with his wife, but for some reason he never relinquished the title of Camp Director. With much teasing from Chiron, it was admitted only to the head counselors that yes, maybe, Mr. D., had in fact, grown somewhat, maybe attached to this gods awful orange camp. And the kids too. Maybe, that one depended on the day. 

Anyway, if Mr. D was here in the middle of the night that meant there was trouble. 

“Ahh, yes, these two, they should be able to help what is it Hank and Pudge?” Mr. D. said, waving his hand for a Diet Coke to appear, anytime he was on camp grounds he couldn’t summon alcohol, but you didn’t hear it from me, but he took quite a liking to the cola after all these years. 

“Hunk and Pidge, sir,” Coran said adding in gently, after all, they had brought Pidge and I here in the middle of the night for a reason, they needed us for something. 

Coran joined shortly after Mr. D moved back home. Chiron needed more help around camp, he had the help of some older demigods, like Clarisse and Will, but even they couldn’t be around all the time. Coran was a spunky centaur with vibrant orange hair, though it is unknown if the man dyes it or it’s natural, and honestly I am not sure which I would prefer more. 

“Yes, Hunk and Pidge, we brought you here because a new prophecy has been opened,” Chiron said, glancing at the stairs where the one and only red-haired Rachel Dare appeared holding a scroll. A scroll? I wasn’t familiar with prophecies written on scrolls...but it left a sick feeling in my stomach. 

“And what are we supposed to do about that?” Pidge said, her fingers were fiddling with her necklace, she only did that when she was nervous. Because she was right, why bring us here...unless it involved us? 

“Well as the most experienced campers we were hoping for your help,” Coran interjected and like a balloon deflating both Pidge and I released a breath we didn’t realize we were holding. It wasn’t about us, we just knew a lot. Kind of like Annabeth back during the time of the First Great Prophecy. 

“Well us and Lance, but let me guess you couldn’t wake him,” Pidge mused, but her attention went back to the red-haired women stepping forward. 

“We don’t usually share prophecies with campers unless we know it is for them, but this one doesn’t seem directed towards anyone at the moment, we were hoping you might be able to contribute your knowledge to deciphering what we do know. We think the first line is in reference to some campers, but it’s hard to say,” Rachel said, taking a seat next to Mr. D. She unraveled the scroll slowly with a pendant that everyone seemed to look upon with curiosity, even the god sitting next to her. “When I read a phrase, please tell me if something comes to mind.” 

“ _ Cobalt blue. _ ” 

“Lance McClain,” I said, with confidence, there was no doubt. Lance had some of the bluest eyes known throughout both camps, Olympus, and even the Underworld. Not electrifying blue like Thalia or sea-green blue like Percy. No, cobalt blue, sure and steady, maybe like the blue in the middle of the ocean or the blue in the center of a pure flame. 

Cobalt had become Lance’s signature nickname, that and the Cobalt Hunter, given by Thalia herself. Chiron even allowed a deep blue camp shirt to be made for the one and only on Lance’s birthday years ago. 

The group nodded in agreement. 

“ _ Amaranth Violet. _ ” 

The group pondered for a minute, but it didn’t take long for Pidge to chime in, “Amaranth, the flower, the love-lies-bleeding that Lance and the Demeter kids planted to cover the Ares Cabin, for Keith on their sixteenth birthday.” 

“Oh yeah, the Ares kids were pissed until Lance admitted he only did it because the flower reminded him of Keith’s eyes. Everyone, including the Ares Cabin swooned at that,” I added. Lance might not have charmspeak, but he didn’t need it to woo a crowd. 

“So it must be Keith Kogane, his eyes are really that magenta-violet color of the flowers,” Pidge said, with a new firmness. 

The group nodded in agreement again. 

“ _ Silvered grey _ .” 

“Takashi Shirogane,” Pidge said, her voice cold, she didn’t often talk about Shiro. He may have come to camp after us, but that didn’t make him any less a role model, within months he became the Athena cabin counselor, leading with as much pride and composure as Annabeth. 

Sure enough, there was no one else it could be, his eyes, they weren’t that of the deep, thoughtful grey of most Athena kids, no his were bright, almost silvery. Plus his little silver lock of hair he got after returning from his quest, perhaps a consolation prize for his extreme effort...or extreme distress, whichever way you put it, but in the end he lost an arm. Pidge and I worked tirelessly to design him a prosthetic, we were still young back then, so our older camp siblings helped us actually build it, and even a little help from Leo himself. It was an arm composed of some of the greatest metals regarded by the gods, and lastly encased in silver, a blessing from Artemis for having protected one of her hunters. 

Silver was in no doubt Shiro. 

The group nodded in agreement again. 

“Is that it?” I asked, confused at the silence sitting in the room. Rachel nodded, that was all the first line. “But that can’t be right,” I interjected, a new sadness filling my gut, “Shiro is gone.” 

Despite four years passing since he became a statue, no one had come up with any ideas on how to revive him, Hazel even threatened the Furies to give her an answer, but they said nothing, they didn’t speak of that night according to Nico. That night, it was frustrating for everyone, everyone who was in the clearing still felt like there was something missing, like what happened couldn’t have been what actually happened. 

“Yes, but think,  _ silvered grey, amaranth violet, cobalt blue _ . The three of them, when they were together, when they worked together, they came together as one, it was a sight that no one could deny. It was seamless, natural. Far greater than any other teamwork I had seen among heroes, not even Percy and Annabeth have that ability to synchronize like that,” Rachel said, her eyes closed likely in memory of the three teens. 

Shiro may have been nearly five years older, but he fought as their equal. It was almost like when they fought together they shared their strength, knowledge, and prowess among one another. It was suggested by some Ares and Athena kids to let the three of them try and take on the rest of the camp in a Capture the Flag. It never ended up happening, and truth be told probably in fear of the rest of the camp looking pathetic. 

“It doesn’t matter Shiro is gone,” Pidge bit back. “Your prophecy is probably meantt for someone else.” 

“Oh but I think the fourth line only reiterates exactly who it is for,” Mr. D said with a small smile, his words encouraged Rachel to read it aloud. 

“ _ Alongside the Craftsman and the Intellect _ .” 

My hand began itching at the watch on my wrist, we first made the shield watches so that Shiro could have it before he left on his quest all those years ago. Pidge and I did everything for our little band of merry misfits. Well, not exactly. Pidge and I seemed to fit in perfectly in our cabins, but I always knew that Keith, Lance, and Shiro struggled in their own cabins. They were welcomed and loved, but they never felt the connection to their parents that we did. Pidge and I, we stuck with them though, we were a little family. My mind went to the fifth bayard Pidge and I made, we never said anything while constructing it, knowing who it was meant for, knowing it would probably never be used. It sat on my workbench, where it would stay until we maybe move to New Rome or decide to take on the world, monsters unfortunately included. 

I laughed nervously, “No, no no. You definitely don’t have it right. I can’t be part of a prophecy plus Shiro is gone. Think about it, silvered grey that could easily be Annabeth, she has grey eyes. Blue, ocean, I mean I bet if you put Percy on a boat in the middle of the ocean his eyes would look pretty close to cobalt. I am not sure about the violet, but I don’t know Nico’s sword does that purple glowy thing, I’ve heard it gives him an aura in the same color. Then Leo is a great craftsman and intellect, well I mean Pidge is an absolute genius, but it could just mean anyone smart right? Right!” 

I wasn’t sure when I started shouting, but the words were tumbling out of me. Maybe it was because I knew, I knew the vagueness of who the prophecy was for, the strangeness of it being in a scroll, the lack of knowledge of the camp directors and oracle herself. This was a Great Prophecy or something close to that. I knew it. Somehow I knew that, which only worsened the knowledge that I was probably part of it. No. No I couldn’t be a part of it. Last time one of us had a prophecy Shiro came back without an arm. 

Pidge’s hand rested on mine, trying to get me to calm down, “Maybe I should go get Keith and Lance.” Her eyes shone with genuine concern, maybe because she also knew this was true, maybe because she also had that feeling in her stomach. Knowledge that we were part of whatever bullshit was on that scroll. 

“Technically the scroll could be for ten years or a hundred years from now, don’t freak out boy,” Coran said trying to offer some comfort, but Rachel shook her head. 

“I wrote this scroll four years ago, on the summer solstice,” Rachel said, all of our eyes widening. Four years ago, when Shiro was turned into a gem, Pidge and I started running after our three friends but Rachel had come out of the house breathing green smoke out of her mouth. We had to help her back inside before she hurt herself. By the time Chiron and Coran had the Oracle handled and we arrived in the clearing it was too late, six demigods passed out and one encased in riches. “The Oracle sealed it with this symbol,” Rachel said, lifting the pendant she used earlier. “This morning I woke up with this around my neck and I could open the scroll. If it was meant for ten years from now or a hundred I wouldn’t have this pendant.” 

Well that made the feeling in my stomach somersault, I considered a break for the bathrooms, but I couldn’t even get up. I was frozen by this knowledge, unsure what to do with it. I was probably part of a prophecy? Which could very much mean I could die or one of my friends could at the end. Prophecies weren’t to be messed around with, they meant serious business, and I wasn’t ready for that. Sure I was going to be eighteen in a few months, but I wasn’t ready. 

“Does that mean…” Pidge trailed off. “Does that mean that Shiro isn’t gone, if he is part of this prophecy that must mean…” No one showed a single sign of hope or knowledge, but that didn’t stop the hope that spread over Pidge. “We could get Shiro back.” 

“We don’t know anything-” Coran started but was cut off by Pidge standing and walking over to Rachel, her eyes fell on the pendant still in her hand. 

“This symbol, I have seen it before. I have seen it in my dreams, back in those nights thinking of ways to revive Shiro. It came to me almost every night, but I couldn’t find it anywhere,” Pidge said pointing at it. 

“The Oracle and I are both unfamiliar, but it is tied to this prophecy, we aren’t sure why,” Rachel admitted, removing the pendant and handing it to Pidge. “But please, if it helps take it.” 

Pidge held it so I could see, I examined it, “I have seen some of these symbols alone. The Trident and the Master Bolt. The others I am not sure.” 

Mr. D leaned forward, “The lotus staff, it’s Hera’s.” 

“The two pronged fork could be a variation of Hades’ staff, though it’s hard to tell, he rarely used it in the form seen there,” Chiron offered. 

We waited for more contribution, but it was lost, no other ideas or confirmations. “Well I guess it’s time to research,” Pidge said with a yawn. 

“Actually I think it’s time for bed,” Coran said with a soft smile, the past hour was full of emotion, overwhelming and tumultuous. I was part of a prophecy. Pidge was part of a prophecy. Keith and Lance were part of a prophecy. Shiro could be revived, and then be part of this prophecy. 

“Please don’t go telling anyone else what you learned today, this information is to be held secretive for now, plus it is the Solstice, and your friend’s birthdays, research tomorrow, celebrate today,” Chiron offered, ushering us from the cabin. 

“What do we do?” I asked Pidge halfway down the hill towards the cabins. 

“I have no idea,” she returned, her eyes glued to the Hades Cabin where Shiro still waited, still waiting to be freed.

“Do we tell them?” I asked, looking at the Aphrodite and Ares cabins, they looked so opposite, one like a military barrack taken over by punk kids and the other a celebrity Barbie house. 

“Get their hopes up, you know they were never the same after that day. Let’s wait, see what the research provides, then, then maybe,” Pidge said, I knew it hurt her to say it, because as much as Pidge and I did our own thing we did all our things together. Lance might not know much about magic and machines, but he always offered to help. Keith couldn’t read a book to save his life, but damn if he wouldn’t try when Pidge asked for help in her research. We were a family, we did everything together, I mean how else were you supposed to spend your days living year-round at the summer camp?

“Well, Happy Summer Solstice, and Happy Birthday to our three favorite idiots.” 


	4. Keith Chases A Constellation

**Keith**

* * *

I groaned awake, I knew exactly what day it was and I wanted to roll over in bed and ignore the sun on its special, longest day of the year. I was sure that any minute the Ares kids would come pounding on my door to let me know what stupid, cheesy thing Lance had done for our birthday this year. 

I closed my eyes again and when I opened them again I was surprised to feel the heat of the day bearing down through the cabin, that’s weird, the heat indicated it was probably close to ten, the latest he usually managed to sleep in before Hunk, Pidge, or Lance woke him up was eight. 

I kicked my sheets off and looked outside, everyone seemed to be going about their usual camp schedule. I shook my head, that couldn’t be right. I glanced around the room when my eyes landed on bow and quiver, a letter addressed to him in deep blue ink and Lance’s handwriting. 

_Happy Birthday Samurai,_

_On this longest day of the year, let’s quest to chase down the stars. I invite you to shoot for an apple, prove to the King of the Day and Queen of the Night you can take on this quest._

_Yours Truly, Loverboy_

I rolled my eyes, of course Lance would turn it into some complicated birthday celebration, not that I was upset, the more things I did, the more of a distraction it would be from the loss that always sits heavy on my heart. A quest to shoot straight was certainly going to take a big chunk of my day. I hefted the quiver onto my back and glanced at the bow, it was Lance's bow, he and Hunk cast it themselves, Lance strung it with a gift from Thalia so many years ago. I felt honored to even touch this bow, I know how much it meant to him. 

I wasn’t all that terribly surprised to see James and Ryan waiting for me at the Arena, James looked at me and grumbled, “I can’t believe I agreed to this, if you miss on purpose I will kill you.” 

I was a little confused until James lined up against a pole and Ryan placed a gold painted apple on his head. In front of James, Ryan placed a barrier, that way, if I did miss I wouldn’t maim my brother. 

“You’d do anything for Lance, in fact, I think this entire camp would do anything for Lance,” Ryan laughed before making his way over to me, whistling as he took in the bow, “I can’t believe Lance is letting you use this. I asked to use it once and I thought he was going to shoot me through the heart.” 

I stayed quiet, unsure what to say. Lance and I...well we had a very interesting relationship. Shiro and I came to camp just before winter, while most of the kids were off back home and going to school, but there were a few who stayed here all year, no families to go home to or it was easier not to go home. 

According to the entire Aphrodite cabin, Lance and mine’s love story began with him spoon feeding me ambrosia, it was after all how Percy and Annabeth met. I didn’t think much of it. Lance was one of the few kids around who was actually helpful in the infirmary. Usually the Apollo Cabin ran it during the summer, but with fewer kids in the other months Lance offered to learn, and he learned from one of the best, Will Solace.

Anyway, waking up to those pretty blue eyes was pretty incredible, especially after having narrowly escaped angry wolf creatures trying to eat Shiro and I alive. That beautiful smile, see I was only ten at the time, we always get ridiculous crushes when we are ten, I mean after all he spoon fed me a dessert that tasted like a milkshake, burger, and fries in one. With time though, the crush only got worse, everyone always talking about how we were the Ares and Aphrodite of the camp, or the way he would be the first to my side whenever I got hurt doing something too reckless, or how he would braid my hair before capture the flag so it didn’t get in my face. 

But then there were all the fierce rivalries we had, whenever he wasn’t explicitly flirting he was always trying to compete with me. I wasn’t sure why, but it brought out the worst in my Ares side. There were more than a few times we put each other in the infirmary, laughing it off later. 

Eight years of flirting, fighting, pretending, loving, hating, it was all very confusing. 

“Where is Lance?” I asked, drawing back the bow again. I had already gone through an entire quiver of arrows, and uh...well only three managed to hit the barrier protecting James. I was going to be here a while. 

“Probably setting up for some fancy date or baking a cake or something else stupidly romantic,” James rolled his eyes, just hoping I could get a struck of luck and hit this apple before he fell over from heat exhaustion.

“Whatever,” I grumbled letting another arrow fly, it surprisingly hit the shield right where James had been rolling his eyes at me. 

“See, you are thinking about it too much, if you just relax,” Ryan said, moving around me trying to give me pointers. I know I made fun of Lance for never listening to me, but really it was me who was never listening to him during our trainings. I wanted to be good at archery, I wasn’t sure if it was just because it was one of the few things Lance always beat me at or because I wanted to impress him. But every time he tried to teach me I got distracted by him fixing my form or by Lance’s own form while shooting. It made him long and elegant, it really wasn’t fair. I imagined Lance had beauty and grace similar to that of his half-brother, Eros, Cupid. 

I tried to take a deep breath, trying to remember some of Lance’s lessons. He would always say something about how we see swords as an extension of our arm, but bows are an extension of our minds. The more calm the better, and if you could yourself hitting the target in your head you could make it. 

So I did that, and with the release of my breath I let the arrow go. Much to everyone’s amazement it split the arrow I had just released before, the one that would have landed in James’ face. 

“Wow that was amazing, now stop thinking about how much you hate James and focus on the apple,” Ryan said nearly jumping for joy. Of course, this was Ryan we were talking about, stoic and reserved as always. 

“Focus on your love for Lance, maybe that will let you hit the damn apple,” James grunted, eyes still focused on the arrows in front of him. 

The comment tipped me off and it took me another thirty minutes to calm down. By that time Hunk and Pidge had come down to wish me a happy birthday, I smiled. Being around them always made me feel calmer. I took some relaxing, meditative breaths and glanced at the obviously fake golden apple and smiled, thinking of Lance painting the apple in his room while humming a pop song. 

I told my mind that my arrow was going to go right through the apple, and drew back the bow, with a deep breath in I let go, letting the arrow fly. 

“Holy shit, you did it, you finally did it!” Kinkade said, losing a bit of his stoicism to celebrate nearly two and half hours in the sun training one of the most notoriously stubborn campers. 

James ducked and gave a small impressed smile at the apple nailed right through the middle with an arrow, “Look at that, now you can go fly off and shoot Lance in the butt and maybe he will finally kiss you.” 

I rolled my eyes at James before we hugged, we were still brothers. 

“So Lance’s bow huh?” Pidge eyed me suspiciously. 

“I swear on the gods, if I get another comment about the damn bow. He has his bayard thingie so he was probably a little more okay giving this up for the day,” I pouted, trying to find a logical explanation as to why Lance would leave me his bow. 

“Well speaking of the son of beauty, have you seen him?” Hunk asked, looking around the stands, there is no way Lance would miss seeing me hit the apple right? But also Hunk hadn’t seen Lance yet? While Lance was usually the first to wake me on my birthday, Hunk was always the first to wake Lance. 

“Uh, you haven’t seen him? What happened to his birthday breakfast in bed?” I asked, confused, Hunk started scratching his neck in response. 

“Well I kinda slept in on accident, had a long night,” Hunk said with yawn, Pidge yawned shortly after. I dismissed it figuring the two of them or even the two of them and Lance had been planning something for most of the night. 

“Okay, well no I haven’t seen him, but he is sending me on a scavenger hunt quest thingie, so he is probably going to lurk in the shadows as I complete all these tasks,” I said, realizing I didn’t know what task was next. I marched over to the apple which had black paint curling around the side. I suddenly was very glad that I hit the apple in the center, or else I would have lost the message. 

“ _For having shot straight and deeming your worthiness, it’s time you retrieve your true weapon. Lucky number 13,_ ” I said aloud, looking at Pidge and Hunk would have some clue as to what that meant, but they just shrugged and let me continue on my quest. 

I made my way to the only thirteen in the entire camp. I shivered walking up the porch and knocking. If this was Lance’s way to get my mind off Shiro it wasn’t working. Standing on the porch of the cabin that housed my bedazzled brother wasn’t exactly, well, distracting from the whole bedazzled brother thing. 

I was honestly surprised when someone opened the door, Hazel and Nico both primarily resided in New Rome and the Underworld. But then again, they would both be on Mt. Olympus tonight for the Solstice Celebration. 

Nico’s dark mop of hair appeared from the doorway, he looked at his watch, “Looks like you did better than I thought. Lance warned it could be anywhere from two hours to five. I am glad it was on the shorter end though, Will will kill me if I don’t show up in a suit.” 

Seeing Nico was quite the surprise, let alone Nico being here for me, he barely at camp when I first arrived. He was packing things here and there to move to New Rome with Will who was pursuing medicine out there. He did stop by every once in a while, mostly to say hi to Chiron and Coran, maybe spruce up his cabin a bit, or say hi to Lance, Pidge, and Hunk. 

Lance always said that I reminded him of Nico, a little brooding, a lot temperamental, and big geek energy. But look if Greek and Roman gods were real and all the monsters that come with that are real why wouldn’t mothman and bigfoot be real? 

“Uh,” I remember saying as Nico sidestepped me and made his way for the forest. I just followed after him, clearly this was part of his quest that Lance sent him on. There were few people who could get Nico to do them a favor, but I had no doubt that Lance was one of them. Rumors had it that when Will was away Lance was the only person who could make Nico smile. Hazel also mentioned in passing to me that Nico saw Lance as a younger brother, and often got very overprotective of the blue-eyed boy. 

When we made it to a large clearing in the forest Nico stopped abruptly, I nearly ran into him, “He told me you still wear that.” Nico said gesturing to my belt holster, where my knife would go. Then it hit me. My _true weapon_ Lance wrote. No. No I didn’t want to be anywhere near that thing especially not on this day. 

“Wow he really does know you, painted you like a damn picture, said you would probably get all freaked out the second I mentioned this,” Nico said pulling the knife out of his jacket, it was wrapped delicately in a cloth, but I could still see the gold and black metals swirling together. Sometimes when I stared at it too long it would seem like the metals were moving, it was mesmerizing. 

“I don’t want it,” I said nearly stumbling back when Nico turned it for me to grab the handle. 

“Ah that’s right I was supposed to read this, give me a second,” Nico said, pulling a paper out of his jacket. “ _Keith Kogane, if there is a quality of you I am most conflicted on it’s your tendency to run. Now that is usually running head first into danger like an idiot, but sometimes it’s running away, also like an idiot._ ” 

I scoffed, causing the much older boy to look at me with a raised brow, “ _I asked Nico to come help you for a couple of reasons. First, because he is one of three people who can wield your blade and I didn’t really feel like walking into the Underworld to ask Hades for help. Second, because my big bro Nico knows a thing or two about running from problems. It’s time you owned up to that blade, it’s the only thing you have from your childhood, the only thing that kept you going until you found Shiro. It’s time to learn how to wield it yourself. Stop running, Samurai._ ” 

“Now Lance might be one of the few people who I would do a favor for, but the day you handed me this knife I knew I owed you a favor too. Despite hiding your brother in my cabin to try and your raging sobs you came up to me after, cool, calm, and collected, despite being absolutely heart broken and terrified. You asked me to take your knife, told me that one day you might be ready to understand and earn it back. That day you didn’t run away, but Lance is right, four years is running away, you are eighteen today, an adult. You have left the boundary of this camp once and it was a night I don’t think any of us like to remember. This knife, this will protect if you ever need to leave again. This knife, it’s part of you, so are you ready?” 

I looked at the man in front of me, holding my knife, trusting me to take it, wanting me to learn, encouraging me to grow. I reached out and took it in my hand, there was a familiarity, a comfort having it in my hand. I could also feel Lance’s smile on me. I wondered if he was watching, but I didn’t turn. I needed to learn. 

“Okay, I am ready,” I said, twisting it in my hand. 

“Well, the day you handed it to me I took it upon myself to question everyone I could…” Nico started. He talked about how he forged his own blade from the River Styx, how he talked to everyone he knew who used the river to forge, but no one seemed to know. Not even the Goddess herself nor his father, Lord of the Underworld. How he tracked down the foundry of imperial gold and asked if they had ever seen two metals forged together like this. Someone mentioned stories of the Elder Cyclops’ who had the power to meld and interlace metals in such a way. Unfortunately the Elder Cyclops’ have a grudge against gods and demigods after Apollo killed a good lot of them. 

“Fortunately dead things are kind of my speciality,” Nico laughed continuing. “One finally revealed to me that melded metals like this are very rare, they have the ability to grow, change, and mold, but only for the person whom it was gifted.”

I looked at the blade, so maybe I wasn’t seeing things when the metals seemed to swirl into one another? I held the blade out and let it speak to me, it wanted me to summon its true form, I wasn’t sure what that was, but damn if I wasn’t going to try. Nico let out a grunt of approval, and when I opened my eyes the knife had transformed into what looked somewhat like a scythe, a long slightly curved blade for the first two feet, then the last foot consisted of a sharper turn, my head was telling me the name, “A sickle sword.”

“Very nice, now, think of just the imperial gold, feel it, and summon it,” Nico said, encouraging me further. I did as he asked, and sure enough, gold moved into the blade of the sword, it seemed to be in constant motion, moving around the black iron, the sword seemed to glow in a reddish magenta. I flipped my thinking, willing the Stygian Iron, and then the roles reversed, black swirled into the blade, fighting off the gold. A deep purple violet glow around it. I willed for the two metals to be at ease, swirling throughout the blade calmly, it formed a nice magenta, violet glow, just like those flowers Lance grew for me. Amaranth. 

“A fast learner, I have no idea who gifted you the sword or anything else of the origin, but this sword, this knife, it’s yours. I trust you to use, and so does Lance,” Nico said resting a hand on my shoulder. 

“My true weapon,” I said softly.

“He might just be a Son of Aphrodite, but he knows more people than anyone I ever met, he has this way of making you feel warm and understood, it’s how he makes everyone feel loved and smile. Reminds me of a certain goddess…” Nico said trailing off. I wasn’t sure which goddess in particular he was referring to, my thoughts mostly surrounding Lance, but I nodded nonetheless. 

“Well, it was a pleasure to get to know you better and watch you get to know yourself better, but I have to find Will before I have an arrow in my chest. Lance told me to give this to you,” Nico said before turning to the sky. “Go easy on him Cal!” 

I had no idea what that meant, but I took the note and read it, “ _A fierce beast guards the gate to the night sky and golden apples, but I have faith that with your true self and true weapon you can win. Have fun Samurai._ ” 

Golden apples and the archery range. Night sky and the first note about chasing stars. I sighed realizing it was one of Lance’s favorite stories. Thalia used to tell it to him when the hunters escorted him to camp. Titan’s Curse, I sighed and laughed at the same time “The garden.” 

Only, before I could piece together the whole, fighting a dragon thing a giant dragon seemed to descend over me, golden claws wrapping around my waist. I twisted trying to get out of its claws, “You never like to go easy on me do you Lance?” 

The dragon dropped me near the river between the dining pavilion and the amphitheatre. I was just glad there were only a few campers in canoes who had a full show of me getting a mouthful of dirt. 

I got up quickly, realizing I didn’t have any armor on and I only had Lance’s bow and my knife in hand. Both of which I didn’t have experience with. My bow skills consisted of two and a half hours to hit a target and my sword skills were generally in the category of broadsword and xiphos, not sickle sword. 

The dragon roared loudly drawing more campers, and soon I had a small audience. Great, I was completely unprepared, I shrugged that off, preparation had never stopped me before. I looked at the dragon, shiny and golden, and that’s when I realized this was no normal dragon. This was Festus. I shook my head. Of course, Lance wouldn’t bring a real, actually dangerous dragon to camp.

Maybe I wouldn’t have to fight Happy the Dragon, maybe it was all for show, because I really didn’t know how to take down a giant metal beast. Unfortunately I was very, very wrong, this was no show. Festus leaned down showering me in fire, I barely ducked away to activate my shield in time to avoid getting charred. “Okay, so not playtime,” I grumbled when the heat on my shield stopped. Surely Lance didn’t actually want me to kill the dragon, it was a real being, and despite the fire, quite lovable. My eyes landed on a ruby necklace around the dragon’s neck that was my prize, my ‘killing of the fierce beast.’ The only problem being, the dragon wasn’t going to hold back in trying to make me lunch and the necklace was probably twenty or thirty feet in the air. 

An arrow flew through the air, lodging between the scales, I turned to find Ryan and James standing on my flanks, James noted, “Well Lance always did have a flare for the dramatics.” 

“What’s the goal?” Kinkade asked, raising another arrow. 

“We need the necklace,” I said before noticing the red, orange glow grew near the neck. “Get down,” I pushed us into the river, James and mine shields covering the three of us. 

“Lance is going to get in so much trouble for this,” another voice called, I recognized it at Hunk’s who was holding some kind of gun-canon looking thing, he fired it, releasing a sort of magic energy ball, it knocked into the dragon heavily, but didn’t do any obvious damage before it fizzled out. It was the bayard energy, I realized. Pidge stood next to him holding another weapon I didn’t recognize as greek, some kind of katar looking weapon, but it had a grappling hook line to it as she shot it at the dragon’s neck flying into the air after the necklace 

“Yeah but when is the next time we get to play fight with Festus?” Pidge shouted flying through the air. She was a couple feet off from the necklace, so it was our job to keep Festus distracted and not playing with fire while she got it. 

We jumped from the river, charging on, I willed the sword to Imperial Gold, I wasn’t going to take any risks with the Stygian Iron today. I made a hard cut for one of the dragon claws and was surprised to see it come off. Festus roared rearing its foot. James took the advantage and slipped under the foot to put his sword in the foot. Hunk knocked another energy ball into the dragon moving it off balance. Ryan fired distracting arrows to keep Festus’ eyes from Pidge. 

She grabbed the necklace, but fell in her leap, I dove for her, somehow catching her in my arms, it knocked the air out of me as I fell to the ground. “You got it,” I said with a smile, Festus relinquished as soon as the necklace was gone taking a few steps back from battle, and curling up like a cat.

“Sure did,” Pidge said also laughing. The others joined us with big smiles.

“He might get in a lot of trouble, but I had a hell of a time,” James said looking at the charred grass around them. 

Someone called from Festus, I looked up to see a beautiful brown haired woman trail down the bronze dragon. It registered, Nico telling Cal to go easy on me, I breathed out, “Calypso?” 

“Oh, yes,” she clapped with glee. “Leo was a little busy with some stuff on Olympus so I got to come play! Did you have fun?” 

I laughed standing up to greet her, “A blast, not a fire blast though, just a blast.” 

“Well I couldn’t make it too easy, the claw is yours by the way,” Calypso said, handing me the rather large claw that I cut off earlier. “Consider it a token of beating the dragon, but I am supposed to ask a Hunk for help in case Festus got injured.’ 

Hunk stepped forward and went with Calypso to tend to the dragon’s paw and pull out some stray arrows, the rest of us just laid on the grass staring at the sun, the beautiful big sun. It was nice getting your heart rate up from battling a giant dragon without actually going outside the barrier and getting attacked by real monsters. I lifted my blade in the air, but now I have a means of fending off the monsters. I was eighteen now and Shiro wasn’t around so there was no one left to tell me what to do, I could leave. I wondered if Lance would leave with me if I asked. Well probably not if Pidge and Hunk didn’t come, but maybe he would come with me to New Rome or something, maybe take over archery from Chiron for a while and I could take over sword fighting. That could be nice. We could visit Mt. Olympus and see our parents maybe, if not visit with some other minor gods and goddesses. Maybe try out a quest...or maybe not, but it didn’t matter. I just wanted to be with Lance. 

_I just wanted to be with Lance_. 

“Where is Lance?” I said, realizing that he still hadn’t shown his face despite feeling like he had been by my side all day, but it was nearly afternoon and my birthday partner had made himself scarce. 

“I don’t know, probably hiding from Chiron and Coran, here take your necklace,” Pidge said, sitting up and throwing me the red jewel, there was a note in the middle. “I got to get back to my secret evil plans anyway.” 

“Well thank you all for the help,” I said sitting up, Kinkade and James both offering fist bumps before treading away. Hunk disappeared shortly after helping Calypso get Festus back in tip top shape. I walked over and rested a hand on the paw I had attacked. “Thank you Happy the Dragon,” I said with a small laugh, the dragon huffed out something akin to amusement, or what I hoped was. 

“You must be something pretty special to Lance,” Calypso said. “There are only so many people who would go to the ends of the known world to make you smile. I was lucky enough to have someone do that for me, and I think you have someone who does that for you.” 

I blushed a little at that, listening to her compare Leo’s love for her to Lance’s love to him, if I could even call it love. I mean of course we loved each other, just not in that way. 

“Leo and Lance always had a special connection, they both reveled in speaking spanish while pranking the others. They bonded over other things too, but um, not necessarily my business to share,” she said with a hesitant laugh before pressing a kiss to my forehead and saying goodbye. 

I didn’t realize how close Lance stayed with all the people he knew, it would explain all the times he was impossible to find around camp like right now. I looked hoping I’d see him spying, but no sign of him anywhere. I looked at the necklace in my hand, there was a paper tucked into the gem. I pulled it out. 

_When the night sky begins to sparkle, look to the Huntress to guide you._

I made my way back to the Arena, I had until sunset before I could continue my quest. At least I could practice with my new sword, it was different in weight from my other swords, but like my bayard it seemed to fit effortlessly into my grip and weighted perfectly for my body. I even took a spin with both blades at once, the hours went by effortlessly as I practiced.

It wasn’t dinner time when I found what Hunk and Pidge had been preparing. Hunk managed to convince one of the nymphs to sneak into a fast food restaurant a little while away to get me a burger, shake, and fries. He also managed to cook up ropa vieja for Lance, but the son of Aphrodite was still nowhere to be found. I chalked it up to the quest still not being complete. Hunk solemnly took his meal to Hestia. 

There was a nervous energy buzzing about my two friends that I couldn’t put my finger on. Their minds seemed to be somewhere else, even after showing them I had mastered my old blade and telling them that I wanted to ask Lance to go to New Rome with me.

“What is going on with you two?” I snapped, both of them jumped at my tone. If they were going to be weird and spacey I would go sit with my cabin mates. Despite Lance and I being the reason the seating arrangement rule was broken to begin with. We argued tooth and nail with Chiron that we shouldn’t be forced to only eat with our cabin mates, it only divided us more, healthy competition was great and all, which we got plenty of from just from being demi-gods. Eventually Chiron conceded, most likely just trying to get Lance and I to leave him alone. 

“Huh? Nothing is going on? Why do you think something is going on?” Hunk said, the words rushed, he only did that when he was trying to keep a secret. 

“You are keeping something from me,” I said leaning over the table looking into Hunk’s brown eyes, as if his eyes alone would tell me what is wrong. If only Lance was here, he could get Hunk to tell him anything and everything. 

“Will you chill? I know you are on edge because loverboy hasn’t come to wish you a happy birthday yet, but he will,” Pidge snipped back, trying to change the subject, because yeah, they were definitely being weird. 

“Just because I am nimwit son of Ares doesn’t mean I don’t know when you two are being suspicious. You two have been avoiding me all day, and for you to be as tired as you were this morning without having helped Lance plan this quest thing is weird. What were you doing last night?” I asked edging closer to them, trying to use some of my intimidation factor. 

“Did you just admit to being a nimwit?” Pidge laughed, but it wasn’t a real laugh, just because I wasn’t a genius child of Athena didn’t mean I couldn’t tell when someone was trying to cover something. 

“Are you seriously both going to keep lying to me?” I stood knocking my bench over. “This isn’t like us, this isn’t like you.” Before I knew it I was running to the beach. I hated the sand, but there was something about the beach, I knew Lance loved it, so I hated it a little less. I found myself on one of the piers, I really did hate the sand. 

“Where are you?” I whispered over the water, I knew it was all part of this quest thing, but going the entire day without seeing Lance...well it was getting to me a lot more than I liked to admit. Especially today of all days. I played with the box in my hands, I had made us matching black pearl bracelets, the only difference being a central agate bead, his being deep blue and mine being a rich purple. Our birthday. 

I still remember when Lance ran to my cabin nearly knocking down the door with Shiro in his hand, “Keith, Keith guess what Shiro and I share a birthday? Isn’t that crazy?”

Shiro with a knowing smirk on his face. I played a long for a bit, “Really? What day?”   
Lance didn’t even notice that I clearly would have known Shiro’s birthday when he shouted, “June 21st!” It wasn’t always summer solstice, technically it spanned across the 20, 21, and 22nd, but the three days always seemed to blend together the night barely holding it together. 

“Wait, did you say June 21st?” I asked back with a mocking surprise. 

“Yeah! The summer solstice, isn’t that crazy?” Lance responded, still giddy. 

“Well, what’s even crazier is my birthday is also the 21st of June,” I said, only for Lance’s eyes to grow huge. 

“Are you serious?” He asked, a sudden seriousness on his face, “You aren’t messing with me are you? You love to mess with me.” 

“Nope,” I said popping the p, “I never mess with birthdays.” 

“I was trying to tell you before you dragged me all the way here,” Shiro said resting his chin on Lance’s head and laughing. 

“Wow, I can’t believe we all share a birthday, that’s gotta mean something right? We are like super, ultra best friends now, but don’t tell Hunk it will super, ultra hurt his feelings,” Lance said thinking so hard his eyebrows creased. I pressed between his eyebrows, getting him to relieve the tension. 

“You’d think the Son of Aphrodite would care more about wrinkles,” I said laughing. 

We were ten back then, Shiro fifteen. I shook my head, that was eight years ago. Honestly part of me can’t believe I made it to my eighteenth birthday, before meeting Shiro I never even knew if I would make it to the next day.

Eight years, I thought fondly twisting the bracelets in my hands, I slid mine over my wrist, resting right below the leather cuff that disguised my bayard. I looked up surprised to see how low the sun had come, the orange light winking at me as it slowly began to slide below the horizon. I wondered if that was Apollo or a trick of my eye. Lance would go out of his way to ask something as small as that to the great Sun God. I shook my head and got up, time to figure out where the Huntress constellation was. 

I did some checking earlier, specifically in some books that talked about the Titan’s Curse, apparently after Zoë Nightshade died bravely in battle and Artemis rewarded her lieutenant a spot in the night sky to watch over the other hunters. There was an image of the constellation in the books, I just had to hope it would actually lead me where I needed to go. 

I wandered along the beach quite a ways before finally turning the right direction to look at the constellation. It was hard to tell exactly what the constellation was trying to tell me, but Lance seemed to think it would guide him where he needed to go. I looked at it again, and at a certain angle it looked like a bow pulled taut, another star the tip of an arrow. I followed it as best as I could. It led me the hearth in the center of all the cabins. But I knew that couldn’t be right. 

Zoë was the daughter of Atlas, but there was nothing of Atlas in this camp. She helped Hercules, who was Zeus’ son, but she also helped Percy and Annabeth so it could be either of those gods. She was a hunter, so maybe Artemis? 

“Figure it out yet?” James said, startling me from my thoughts. 

I just shook my head, my hand snapped at the sound of an apple being bit, James had taken a seat on one of the logs around the fire and was eating an apple. An apple, a golden apple, Hera’s golden apples from the Garden of the Hesperides. Zoë was a hesperide. I looked back up to the constellation, and I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination or not, but a shooting star seemed to fall from the arrow right over Hera’s cabin. 

Without another word I sprinted to the large, pristine white cabin sitting proudly at the end of the cabins. I glanced up and sure enough, hanging high above my head was a golden apple. I half expected Lance to surrender himself to the moonlight and call me mullet and give me some sort of congratulations, but still nothing. I took Lance’s bow from my shoulder, I feared setting it down anywhere earlier, knowing how important it was to him. I drew back on the bow and focused carefully, I can’t imagine the Queen would be very happy if I damaged her cabin, even if no one was going to use it. 

Deep breath, and I hit the apple, it hit the ground on the other side of the deck and I jumped down to grab it. 

_You did it Samurai, all the proof you need that you can quest without your lovely loverboy or big brother at your side. Will you watch the stars with me? Just for a bit? You know where._

I was sprinting to the beach, four years ago, we made a promise at the spot I was sure Lance was talking about. It had evolved a bit since that day. A hollow log that had a woven rug and blankets tucked inside because Lance knew how much I hated the sand.

When I got there I was a little disappointed that Lance wasn’t there, but I still pulled everything from the log. But I froze when my hand pulled something that didn’t belong.

I was in disbelief, staring at the green lump in my hands.

He said he would always have my back. 

And if he thinks his jacket is some sort of metaphor or consolation prize he is dead wrong. 


	5. A Pendant With A Bite

**Lance**

I wasn’t really sure where I was going, but that was okay. I didn’t need to know. I just needed to be away. Wandering aimlessly, just like when I was a kid. No direction, the only goal was to make it to the next day. It wasn’t a terrible means of living...okay yeah it kind of was, you know considering that I didn’t have a job or a life or anything. Technically I had a diploma, Chiron wasn’t just a pretend teacher after all. I could apply for college, but it wasn’t like I had money to pay for it. 

I sighed. 

I didn’t really think this through all that much. 

But I couldn’t go back. I knew that. Honestly I was just surprised no monsters had come for me yet. 

I had a knack for attracting monsters. And yeah, yeah, yeah. I was a demi-god or whatever so of course I attracted monsters, but no, I attracted monsters, and I swear more than the average demigod. There was that time in capture the flag. I wandered just a tad bit too close to the barrier and I could feel them, all the monsters honing in on my position. Pidge chalked it up to monsters smelling all the kids or whatever. Or the time I wanted to go surfing, and despite Chiron directly forbidding it I did it anyway. If not for the hippocampi I fed regularly I would have drowned in the depths by monsters dragging me to my sad death. Or that one time I ran away to visit the hunters and I very nearly was ripped to shreds. 

I don’t know. Maybe it was all in my head. Maybe it wasn’t. But I had managed around sixteen hours without anything jumping out of the shadows to get me. 

As the sun began to set I felt the exhaustion settle. I had spent most of my afternoon and evening yesterday planning Keith’s birthday surprise. The hours after midnight spent packing and slipping out of camp. I did ask Keith to watch the stars with me, I thought before taking off my pack and finding the hammock. Trees weren’t necessarily safer than the ground since it felt like half the monsters were bigger than trees or could fly, but it gave me peace of mind. 

The stars that night seemed to twinkle more than they usually did, but that could just be from the tears in my eyes. 

Maybe it wasn’t that I attracted more monsters, maybe it was just that I was helpless against them. I wasn’t like Shiro or Keith, children of the gods of war, I wasn’t gifted with fighting and strategy like they were. I wasn’t like Pidge, who despite being a child of Athena, preferred to keep the weapons sheathed, but could easily outsmart her way out of any monster run in. Or Hunk, who the child of Hephaestus might not be credited with much battle prowess certainly stood his ground and wouldn’t back down without a fight. Me though? A child of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, which was great and all, but when it came to protecting myself against monsters it wasn’t exactly easy, I didn’t have many natural advantages.

Yeah, maybe I was good at archery and I had been working on sword fighting technique for years, but I can barely hold my own against Keith. I wasn’t destined for this glorious demi-god life. I was foolish and made mistakes. Everyone around me suffered one way or another, people around me always got hurt. Well I was sick of being that reason. At least if I was alone I would be the only person getting hurt. 

My eye caught on a shooting star, just off of the Huntress. I smiled, hopefully Keith figured it out. 

“Hi Zoë, I know we never met, and I know you have a pretty strong distaste in men,” I said snorting slightly. She probably would have hated me. I was all flaunt and flirt, Thalia always tried to convince me otherwise, but I think she was just trying to be nice. “You know I always looked up to your story. Your brave sacrifice for Artemis and the others, the way you stood up to your father and sisters. You may have just been a pretty girl fated to tend to a pretty garden but damn did you prove them wrong, not about being pretty, I am sure you are still very pretty.” 

“I wish I could be a cool badass girl like you, I think I could do pretty well in Artemis’ Hunt, I mean I am not good at keeping my eyes to myself, but that doesn’t mean I have to act on what my eyes see, you know?” I said laughing lightly, I was fond of admiring people, but what was so wrong with that. There were so many forms of beauty in this world, they all deserved to be marveled at right? 

I was about to continue when I felt a rush of tears flow through me. I looked at the night sky, over where I knew it was blanketing over the camp and smiled tightly. Looks like Keith realized I ran away. I wondered if he still enjoyed his quest though. I knew he would get frustrated with the archery practice, but I could see his surprised smile when he actually hit the apple. I wouldn’t have given him a challenge he couldn’t complete, but I couldn’t make it easy. 

I imagined the fear in his eyes when Nico offered him his blade, but I know Keith, he wouldn’t let the fear eat him alive. He would stand up, ready to brave the fear and overcome it. And I am sure he got a kick out of the dragon fight, no doubt using his new weapon, proving that it wouldn’t control him any longer. 

His face when he finally figured out the puzzle, sure maybe Pidge would have known from the very beginning of the quest where the final piece was, but there was something about the hunt right? Keith would have loved it, proving his own intelligence to himself. The challenge of the bow again. The lightness in his chest as he ran to the beach. 

And now, the anger and resentment. The frustration and sadness. The...I don’t know. It was hard to explain, a feeling of loss and pain. I could feel it alright and it sucked. 

I tucked my head into my hammock and closed my eyes, trying to lull the hurt. 

**Pidge**

“What’s going on?” I asked a little peeved that it was my second time in the Big House that day. Hunk sat next to me, his leg bouncing, the whole prophecy thing was clearly still getting to him. I mean not that I would ever admit it, but it was getting to me too. 

“Have you seen Lance?” Chiron asked, he looked like he had been stroking his beard too much. 

“He’s probably with Keith, now that he’s completed this quest thingie,” Hunk said a little miffed, he was still upset that Lance didn’t come to dinner, he did spend a good chunk of his day making that meal for Lance. It was one of the only things that Lance remembers about his family, well other fluency in Spanish. 

“So you mean to tell me that from sunrise to sundown no one saw him?” Chiron asked, this time a bit more adamant. I narrowed my eyes at the centaur, what wasn’t he telling us. 

“No, why?” I prompted, waiting for the home run. 

The Big House door creaked open and a...well what I could only describe as a broken looking Keith walked in. I had only seen him like this once before, when he first saw Shiro after the whole gem thing. 

“Because Lance is gone. He took off this morning,” Keith’s voice was cold and cracked, fresh with tears and sobs. “That bastard really sent me on a wild goose chase all damn day to give him a head start, as if that would stop me from tracking him to the farthest damn corner of the world.” 

Keith threw Lance’s jacket to the ground, in front of us, a letter slipped out of the pocket, it was addressed to Chiron, but Keith clearly had ripped it open. 

“You mean he just left? Without any goodbyes?” I said, the gears in my head turning a little slower than they usually did. Chalk it up to shock. Lance wouldn’t do that to us right? Hunk and I had been with him since we were six. Three kids in a foster home that burned to the ground by something only the three of us could see. So we ran. We ran far, far away. 

“He just left us,” Keith said, finality in his voice, defeat in his voice, pain in his voice. 

It hit, like a ton of bricks fell out of the sky from Olympus. The tears were coming down my cheeks before I realized. My body moved without my mind as I wrapped myself around Keith who fell to his knees, Hunk joining us. It was so un-Lance, to just leave, not to say anything...to well abandon us. 

Mr. D burst through the front door, “No one is allowed to leave camp!” He almost looked like he was panting, which was strange for an immortal. He nearly tripped on the puddle of campers on the ground, before realizing we were crying and looked forth absolutely lost. Then it seemed to click. “No, no. No that gods damn Leo 2.0 better not have left.” 

Chiron pulled Mr. D from the main room into the office, but none of it mattered. I didn’t even care about Mr. D’s ominous rule yet, it was nagging at my brain, but I was so distracted with emotions. 

“He wouldn’t have right? Maybe this is all just some joke?” Hunk finally said breaking the silence between the three. Hunk’s expression looked hopeful, but there wasn’t any in his eyes when I met them. Keith looked up next, a growl set in his throat.

“No, no it isn’t a joke. That coward ran away from us, ran away from his problems and his family. He didn’t even bother to explain or give us a reason. He did that. He ran from us.” 

“Why?” I asked the question in all of our minds. It didn’t make any sense. Just bolting? For literally no good reason. 

“He was never the same,” Hunk admitted softly. “He always blamed himself for what happened to Shiro. Sometimes he would say he didn’t deserve the luxury and protection of this camp, that everyone in the camp deserved someone better than him. He blames every monster encounter we had on himself, he blames the loss of hunters when we traveled with them on himself, he blames himself for everything.” 

“Are you serious?” Keith snarled. “I told him that we couldn’t blame ourselves for what happened, it would take away from Shiro and his sacrifice.”

“And the goddess of the Hunt told him he couldn’t blame himself for the loss of the hunters, told him the best thing he could do for them was pay his respects and become a hero so that one day he can help protect kids just like him, so he can protect people the same way the hunters did him,” Hunk said back, but there was no fight in his voice. 

“That idiot,” Keith said, trying to pull away from their hug. “I am going to find him,” he tried to stand up, but Hunk and I weren’t letting go. “You can’t stop me. No, you have to let me go after him.” He let weak fists fall onto both our shoulders trying to get us to let go, but we didn’t. 

“Keith,” I reached up to grab his arm, to tell him he needed to cool off first, but instead the pendant from earlier, which was wrapped around my wrist started to glow as it touched Keith’s wrist. Keith yelped and jumped back in pain, gripping his wrist. 

“What the fuck was that?” he yelled, his eyes fixed on the metal pendant around my wrist. Even as Coran stood in his face asking him questions his eyes were transfixed on the pendant. Chiron and Mr. D came rushing out of the room to see about the commotion. 

There was so much happening, my mind felt like it was being overwhelmed in every direction. 

Keith moved his hand to show the injury. A perfect brand of the symbol on his wrist.

It only got weirder when the brand started to glow a soft violet and the boy passed out. 

Then, as if things couldn’t get worse: Rachel burst down the stairs oozing green smoke. 

“ _ Son of Aphrodite, his mind on the flee _

_ Son of Ares, his heart consumed in loss _

_ Their paths obscured by an unknown sea _

_ False history set heroes to double cross _

_ Old promises honored, new promises sealed _

_ Tokens of truth hidden in spoils of war _

_ Heroes cannot keep from the battlefield _

_ The final choice: Love or Score _

_ Clear the mist and face the shears of Death _

_ Stories are written in victory, find the Life untold _

_ Reveal the seal to gain Birth’s new breath _

_ Severance allows destiny a chance to remold” _

“The Hades cabin, it was glowing!” Nadia rushed in out of breath. 

“I sensed a great amount of bad luck,” Lotor said almost calmly as he entered the cabin. 

“Oh really?” I snorted, just because I wasn’t a Son of Nemesis like him didn’t mean I couldn’t see when shit was going down. 

**Allura**

“Take some of the hunters and follow the wolves, they wouldn’t be acting like that without reason,” Reyna commanded, with Thalia and Artemis on Olympus we were already stretched thin. But when the wolves called...well it wasn’t exactly something we could ignore. 

_ Help.  _

_ Someone needs help.  _

_ Friend. Friend needs help.  _

_ Danger. Monsters.  _

_ Monsters coming.  _

_ Bad feeling. _

Running alongside them was giving me a headache, they only ever got like this when they in turn were nervous, so I tried to set my annoyance aside. Plus the closer we got, the more I shared in their nervousness, I could feel the concentration in mist sky rocket the closer we got, which either meant there were a lot of gods hanging around on the surface during the solstice or there were a ton of monsters. 

I figured it was the latter, but logic never seemed to be the way of the gods anyway. 

The first of the attacks started, I rolled behind a tree to avoid a fireball. I took out creatures from my cover before getting back to my feet. Judging from the number of monsters a quick escape was going to go better than trying to fight all the monsters off. The other hunters agreed with my judgement before clearing a path along the trial the wolves took. 

The wolves surrounded the base of a tree, snapping at monsters. The girls quickly joined their positions while I leapt up the tree. 

I sighed when I realized who our  _ friend  _ in need was. “Only you would get yourself into a situation like this,” I said trying to shake the hammock to wake the bronze-colored boy, though it didn’t work, which was strange, most half-bloods were wired to wake up instantly at the sign of danger. I pressed my hand to his head and he felt unnaturally cold, especially for the boy who was always warm.

Well shit, I grabbed his pack and swung it down for another hunter to take before calling to one of the wolves for help, getting an unconscious boy down from a tree wasn’t exactly an easy task. I cut the hammock and he fell onto the back of a wolf. I smiled at the success of that, I was sure I was going to be spoon-feeding him ambrosia as he complained about how much his bruises hurt and how it was all her fault. I shook my head, all in good fun. 

I jumped down and helped the girls fend off some larger monsters making good headway on our merry crew. Once we had a big enough opening we made haste back to camp, it would be much easier to defend ourselves there, and who knows, if they are really lucky maybe Artemis and Thalia will be back. 

The wolf carrying Lance let out a sharp yelp, I turned back to see a monster had the wolf in its claws, I closed my eyes, unable to watch. I muttered out a blessing to the wolf before heaving Lance my arms. It certainly wasn’t as easy to carry him as it was when he was younger, I may be stronger and faster and all around better than him, but he was tall and weighed more in comparison to my immortal form. 

“I am so going to kill you for this later,” I muttered as the girls formed a protective ring around me since I wasn’t going to be using any weapons with a boy in my arms. 

With only a few injured hunters and one wolf down I was fairly impressed with the extraction mission, I tumbled into camp and left Lance by the fire where hopefully he could warm up some before joining the others at the boundaries. Thalia and Artemis came down shortly after, and the battle was soon won. 

“That seemed like a large amount of monsters for one half-blood,” one of the newer hunters commented. 

“Well this is no ordinary half-blood, this is Lance McClain,” Reyna said looking at the boy with a shake of her head. “I can only imagine what kind of trouble he got himself into this time. 

“I have to unfortunately agree with both of you,” Artemis said, the hunters parting so she could see Lance. She bowed down and touched his forehead, she may not be as famed or renowned as Apollo in the business of medicine and healing, but she still had quite a few tricks up her sleeve still. “That was a larger gang of monsters, I haven’t seen one of that size in many years. Bad omens are coming.” 

She quickly ordered for blankets and ambrosia, she couldn’t pin the source of Lance’s unconscious state, but hopefully some food of the gods would help. We arranged a new tent and had him inside before the night was high. 

“I bring other less than good news,” Artemis said, staring at her domain above us. “It would appear there was a large disturbance in the mist” Artemis’ eyes full of sadness as she looked on me, “Hecate passed out during the solstice meeting, I have never seen anything like it before.” 

A god, falling unconscious? That was...that was bad news. I felt eyes land on me from all across the campfire. Just because I was her blood didn’t mean I saw her as much of a mother figure. I barely knew her...and yet part of me still ached, we may not be close, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed her suffering. 

“I offered our services to track down this disturbance, but it may be dangerous, the unknown always is,” Artemis continued. “I have already spoken with Chiron, anyone who wishes to refrain from this quest has my full understanding and may stay at Camp Half Blood for the time being.” 

There was no surprise when no one took the offer, we served Artemis, any mission, no matter the perils we would brave. 

“We must also discuss the business of the male in our camp. Some of the new hunters aren’t familiar with our, uh, guest,” Artemis said, stumbling for the right word. Because yes, Lance was an interesting person to describe to the campers, especially considering that part of the oath says to turn away the company of men. 

Thalia took the lead, “Lance is somewhat of an honorary member of the Hunt. Obviously males aren’t accepted into the Hunt, but the boy proved himself to Artemis many years ago and has been a welcomed guest to this camp since. You may think of him as an Apollo, you may treat him like we do Apollo, but remember he is a demi-god, not an immortal.” 

“And do not encourage his flirting, and I am not saying that because of the oath, I am saying that for our sanity,” Reyna chimed in getting laughs from some of the older members. 

“What are we going to do with him?” another asked, it was a good question. I can’t think of a reason why he wouldn’t be at Camp Half-Blood, but he wasn’t there for a reason. Chiron and Artemis spoke earlier, so I doubted there were issues at the camp. 

“We will in this camp until he wakes and is recovered, after that we will be on our way and Lance may do as he pleases,” Artemis offered, Lance had come to Thalia nearly begging for an exception to the girls club only, but he ultimately redacted his suggestion knowing it wasn’t his place to ask for such things. He was only nine back then when he asked, still struggling to find his place at the camp, which was understandable, most kids who went to camp-half blood were pre-teens and teens. He was also one of the few who stayed year-round, he used to tell me how lonely it felt in the winter, even with his two best friends there. 

The meeting ended and we readied for bed, I nearly had my tent closed with Thalia beckoned for me. I met her outside of Lance’s tent where she was pacing, her big sister nature shining. 

“So you just found him in the woods? Unwakeable?” 

I nodded. 

“How far from camp? Why was he away from camp, he can be so dumb sometimes,” she said shaking her head. 

“A good thirty miles, it was faster for us to come back here then go there,” I answered the part of the question I actually could. “Did we find out what was wrong?”

“Artemis said she couldn’t feel much, but when I moved him I found some sort of brand on his wrist. It was strange, I don’t know, I put some ointment on it and wrapped it. I just hope we will have more answers when he wakes,” she provided. 

“A brand? Like as in a hot metal brand?” I was confused, it was a very strange concept, and there is no way in Hades Lance would have allowed marks like that on his skin.

“Yeah, I know, weird for Lance, I told him I wanted to get a tattoo once and he was all for it, but when I asked him if he wanted to get one he was all, ‘let anything mark my perfect skin, I think not.’,” she said, her voice a bit lighter, but her face fell when she remembered the actual topic of conversation. 

I rested my hand on her arm, “We will have answers, rest for now.” 

**Lotor**

Camp had more or less descended into chaos. I will neither confirm nor deny if there was a smile on my face. I had been asked if I could try to influence some good things to come the camps way, but I never had much practice with my skills. 

If there was one area that Camp Half Blood really failed it was honing in on our metaphysical abilities. Of course we would be trained to be great warriors and protectors, but never learn to control our gifts, because that makes sense. The thing that can make us more dangerous than we even know is never learned. 

Though, for the sake of the home that had kept me safe and the people who sometimes somewhat cared I did try. I tried focusing on all the bad energy and willing it to produce good energy. I wasn’t sure how great it was working, but then again, I barely understood my ability at all. It didn’t help that Damien was more or less disinterested in finding out if he had abilities or not, and well I didn’t have many other places to look. Let’s just say some cabins complain about there not being enough room and I complain about how lonely mine is. 

“I just can’t believe this regular, boring pendant caused this,” Pidge said, throwing herself over Keith who was still unconscious, three days after the incident. 

“I wouldn’t call it boring, seems to have quite the bite if you ask me,” I muttered under my breath trying to feel for the bad juju over the raven-haired boy. 

Hazel spoke afterwards, she had been crowing over the other body in the infirmary, “I agree, that pendant it must be very powerful. Reversing a curse like this.” Hazel had been called on the day after the incident, after Nico dropped by to pick up some stuff and was shocked to find Shiro’s wrist was no longer encased in jewels. “Actually would you mind if I felt it for a moment?” 

Pidge reluctantly lifted the pendant from her shirt, the new hiding place so it wouldn’t touch anyone else accidentally, “Are you sure it’s safe?” 

Hazel simply shrugged before wrapping her hand around it, her eyes closed. I stared in awe, it was clear she was summoning, using her powers in some way. I wonder how she learned, how she came to master it. 

“Yes, this is no ordinary pendant. It feels very old, very old,” Hazel started to say, her voice almost sounding like she was in a trance. “Like older than Olympus old, but it is hard to say exactly.” She let go and took a deep breath before handing it back to Pidge who carefully hung it back around her neck. 

“Older than Olympus? That-well, that seems strange, especially since no one recognizes it,” Hunk noted, over the chaos of the last few days the pendant had been the object of attention, no one recognizing it clearly. Though, the five staffs were identified, Zeus’ Master bolt in the center sided by Poseidon’s Trident and Hades’ old staff form of a bident, and siding those Demeter’s sickle (which many weren’t even aware was a thing) and Hera’s lotus staff. The only problem...no one knew why the five staffs would be pictured together, so more unanswered questions. 

Though there had been little doubt that the pendant was what caused Shiro’s spontaneous change, and according to Hazel the change wasn’t a one time thing. She had reason to believe that the Shiro would continually be freed, she just didn’t know how long it would take.

There was also news of Lance, which helped relieve much of the tension in the camp. He was the Aphrodite Counselor and a senior camper, but he was so much more. Without books and projects to lose himself in like his companions he quickly ascended into the position of, perhaps what might a class president. Anytime someone new came to camp Lance guided them about camp, got them settled, and made them feel like they belonged. Anytime anyone had a problem they went to Lance first. Prank wars getting out of hand? Plumbing issues? Pegasi getting away? Rock wall getting a little too lit? Lance was the first to respond and resolve the problems. Lance organized new and unique extracurriculars, encouraged the practicing of magic and other abilities, and maybe above all else loved and cared for everyone like they were family. Beyond that, without realizing he broke down barriers of what being a demigod meant. A child of Aphrodite who wasn’t afraid to get a little roughed up in the arena or pick up a weapon. He ignored it when people said he should be a child of Apollo for his archery or when he picked up a sword and people said he should leave it to the children of war or when he helped in the strawberry fields or helped repair broken machinery or equipment. 

I could still remember when I was trying to find myself as the lone child of Nemesis at the camp, he offered me a seat at his table during meals so I wouldn’t have to eat alone. He often offered to ask friends to help me with my abilities. 

I still remember when I felt lost, alone, and like I didn’t belong when he found me in a tree deep in the forest, “You know it’s hard, always trying to live up to your godly parent or the legend of your siblings or the heroes of this camp. Impossible even. Sometimes you just have to let go and be yourself, why put yourself in carefully labeled boxes when you can stand up in your own skin and be all of that and more, all of that and better.” 

Without another word or even acknowledgement from me he just walked off.

There was no doubt that when Thalia told the camp that Lance was safely, well safely unconscious at their camp everyone took a relieved breath. Honestly forty percent of the chaos in the camp was related to no one knowing what to do without Lance managing and guiding everything. 

The other sixty percent? 

Well, Chiron announced there were issues with the mist, no one, including him really knew what that meant, so when people started coming up the bay in their big ass boats trying to take pictures of greek architecture and fiery climbing walls there was a bit of a surprise. Chiron and Coran have been consumed with other senior campers and head counselors trying to disguise well...less than human things. Right now they were deciding what to do about Peleus, how exactly were you going to explain that a strawberry farm had a pet dragon? I wasn’t sure, but at the moment it wasn’t my problem. 

I tried to focus on Keith again, maybe if I could help him I could help Lance and Shiro. I could feel something, it felt fluid and ever shifting, it felt like it was slipping through my fingers. I shook my head, growing more and more frustrated, which I knew wouldn’t help, but I couldn’t help it. 

“Hey, relax, no one is expecting you to fix everything,” Hunk said, resting a hand on my shoulder, I tried to nod sympathetically, but I felt off, just in general. As if the world’s balance had been tilted. It was weird, but I couldn’t describe it in any other way. 

“I just want to be able to help,” I said, sounding more than a little defeated. 

“Sometimes all we can do to help is be here,” Hunk said, trying to comfort me. I wondered how he could be so much more put together, considering that his best friend ditched camp and was unconscious as some undisclosed location, and his other two close friends were in the infirmary with similarly known conditions. 

Hazel said she would be reaching out to Will tomorrow if their conditions didn’t change, hopefully the son of Apollo would have some light to shed on the situation since I wasn’t getting anywhere. 

As it got later Pidge and Hunk were shooed to their own cabins, they were head counselors after all, they had other people to watch over as well. Hazel disappeared somewhere to help Chiron, so I stayed, feeling guilty about leaving the brothers here with no company. It was curious really, a son of Athena and Ares, brothers. Of course, they didn’t know when they met and they still managed to clash here and there, they still loved each other. I know both would take the fatal shot for the other. 

I had come to camp around thirteen, the usual age, the age when monsters were much harder to sneak past. Lance had done his tour and got me settled and all, but strangely enough he paired me with Keith. Apparently this pairing thing wasn’t normal, but in hindsight I understood. Keith and I weren’t particularly social. Keith had his group, but outside of that….not really anyone, not even his siblings really. I didn’t have anyone, Damien would drop by every once in a while, but he was off doing life stuff by the time I came around. 

Keith and I didn’t hate each other at first, but it wasn’t exactly singing kumbaya at the campfire. Strangely enough, we bonded over striving for Lance’s attention and affection. We competed lightly in the beginning for it, but realized that by competing it gave more room for others to steal him away. So we started to work together, doing dumber and dumber things everytime. It was all in good fun, especially when I admitted to not actually liking Lance, he was just this stunning son of beauty and grace who was the first person who was nice to me in well...ever. Plus you’d have to be blind- and even then- not to see Keith and Lance’s affection for one another. Sure they were young, but it was undeniable. It often seemed the only person who could really talk Keith down was Lance. The only person who could get Lance to stop flirting was usually Keith. They were each other’s balance, each other’s stability. 

It was just disappointing that they kept letting who knows what get between them. A love story as volatile as their respective godly parents. No cheating per se, but the tension was that of a pissed off Thalia. 

I squeezed Keith’s hand, “You have to get through this, not just for you, but for a certain blue-eyed boy you promised me you would win over one day.” 

  
  



	6. Don't Trust the New Girl

**Lance**

Every part of my body hurt. Like a lot. I sat up slowly only for electrifying blue eyes to be staring into my soul. 

“Uh, oh, hey Thals,” I said, a little confused as to why she was staring at me like I had jumped off a cliff and survived. Then it hit me. I was not in my bed at Camp Half Blood, I was in Thalia’s tent, which meant I was at the Hunter’s camp. “What happened? Why am I here?” 

“Well I was hoping you could answer the question of why my hunters found you camping out in the middle of the woods,” Thalia said, holding back her temper. 

I looked down sheepishly, oh yes, this was going to be fun to explain- My thoughts were instantly distracted as I glanced at my wrapped wrist. 

“What is this?” 

“Just leave it for now,” she said, taking the wrapped wrist in her hand. “Why were you running away?” 

“Ah so you found out,” I said using my other hand to scratch the back of my neck. Thalia may be forever stuck in the body of a fifteen year old, but damn if she wasn’t terrifying. 

“Well Hunk and Pidge called to see if you were okay and they told me you decided to run away like an idiot,” Thalia bit back, clearly unimpressed with my innocence act. 

I took a deep breath, I needed to explain myself, I just didn’t know where to begin. 

“Thalia! We have a situation,” someone yelled from the clearing. 

Well, well, well. Saved by the Hunt. 

“We will be talking about this later, now come on,” Thalia said, helping me up. I grunted a little as the soreness in my body. Seriously what happened before I came to the camp I felt like I just finished a wrestling match with some Ares kids. 

“What is it?” Thalia said entering the camp clearing. All the hunters were gathered in a circle close to the edge of the camp. We made our way to see what everyone was looking at. A girl laid in the center, completely still. 

“We found her over there,” one of the hunters said pointing in some direction I didn’t notice, my attention focused on the girl. “She was fighting off an empousa, she said it killed her brother.” 

“Hello?” Thalia leaned over the girl. “Do you have a name?” 

“She must be in shock,” Reyna said, trying to gain her own hold over the situation. 

“Alright, let’s get her some water and food, no ambrosia, we don’t know if she is a demigod or not,” Thalia ordered. Reyna and Allura made their way over to us. “Artemis was called to help with the mist issue on Olympus, but I guess we should just keep her here for now. We can’t move camp until Artemis gets back anyway. Was the empousa destroyed? They can be very alluring to our small-minded male heroes,” Thalia said glancing at me. I just shrugged, I was fully ready to admit that I was nothing compared to Thalia, Reyna, or Allura. 

“I am not sure, the others said it disappeared once they fired an arrow,” Allura said. 

“Probably more interested in finding more male victims. Maybe I will send out a hunting party after it,” Thalia mused.

“But we still have this idiot to deal with,” Reyna said mussing my hair. 

“Careful, don’t mess with a child of Aphrodite’s hair, that’s when their true rage comes out,” Allura laughed, I joined in. Of course I cared for my appearance, but I was also in the woods with a bunch of girls sworn to maidenhood, let’s just say I wasn’t too worried. Allura knelt down next to me, “How are you feeling? You had me worried when I found you in the woods.” 

“Don’t be nice to him, he still has explaining to do,” Thalia snapped playfully. 

“Did I get ambushed by monsters or something? I feel so weak,” I said, deliberately avoiding Thalia’s gaze. 

“Uh, I mean monsters were descending on you, but no, no monsters actually touched you as far as I know,” Allura said, starting to examine me.

“Oh stop worrying, a night of rest and I will be fine,” I said pushing her away. 

“Well you’d think seven nights of rest would be fine,” Reyna muttered earning her a hard jab in the ribs from Thalia. 

“Seven nights?” I blanched. “There’s no way,” I said standing up quickly only to fall backwards over the log I had been previously sitting on. 

“Relax,” Thalia said, helping me back up onto the log. “Will said you should be fine, no internal damage or anything.” 

“Will? Why was Will here? Was it that bad?” 

“You didn’t wake up for seven days, and no he wasn’t here, you and Keith were both knocked out at the same time by our guesses,” Reyna said, which only left me with more questions. I felt my chest begin to tighten, there was so little air. I curled in on myself trying to stop the world from spinning. 

Someone was holding my shoulders and telling me to relax but I could barely register it. A light hand rubbing circles in my back eventually drew me back to reality. Deep breath in and deep breath out. 

Thalia’s eyes met mine, “There was a strange metal that touched Keith’s wrist back at camp and knocked him out, we think it knocked you out too because it branded both you and Keith.” Thalia moved to gingerly unwrap my wrist. “Will was checking on Keith, but said that he couldn’t see anything physically wrong with either of you. Hazel said she has no idea what the metal is or why it did that.” 

“Is he okay? Is Keith okay?” I asked, a little too rushed. 

“Well you can always go back to camp and check on him,” Allura offered softly. 

“No, no. I can’t go back. I don’t want to go back,” I said shaking my head violently. 

“Well what is your plan loverboy? Planning on running from monsters the rest of your life? I thought Chiron offered you a job at the camp?” Reyna asked. 

“I don’t know, I just know I don’t want to go back. I caused everyone in that camp too much pain,” I whispered. Thalia’s eyes darkened and shooed Reyna and Allura off. 

“You and I both know what happened that night wasn’t your fault,” Thalia said, her steely look locking on to me. 

“It doesn’t matter, his brother is gone because of a foolish mistake I made. I am old enough to make my own decisions now and my decision is to stay away,” I said, leaving no room for debate, unfortunately Thalia was significantly more stubborn than me. 

“You are leaving your friends, your family, your home behind because of something 14 year old Lance did? I think you need to work on forgiving yourself,” Thalia said.

I shook my head again, no, I would never forgive myself for what happened. 

“Fine, but when Artemis gets back you can bet we are having a long ass conversation. I never thought the goddess would patron a male demigod in my life, but sure enough she did you, she isn’t just going to let you die because you want to run away from your problems,” Thalia said before leaving me alone in the clearing. 

I hated being alone, but for some reason I kept pushing everyone around me away. Why was my head being so stupid? Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. 

I stared at the campfire. I always liked fires, they not only brought physical warmth, but a sort of mental warmth and comfort. I reached my hands out to it, maybe even letting my hands get a little too close who knows. Everyone had left me alone thus far, probably because Thalia told them to, after all the hunters loved challenging me to archery contests. 

The night was beginning to fall, so many nights Keith and I were stuck asleep, unbeknownst to our unconsciousness. I looked at my wrist, it was a strange mark, I traced it tenderly, it didn’t feel painful, but it looked painful. The symbol made my skin pale and raised, a definitive contrast to my perfect copper skin. 

“What is that?” someone asked, startling me. I turned, surprised to see it was the new girl. 

“Honestly I have no idea,” I shrugged. She took my arm before I could stop her, 

“Looks like the symbol of severance,” she said looking into my eyes before getting up and walking away. They seemed to glow red for a minute, but I dismissed it as a glare from the fire. I looked back at my wrist. Symbol of severance? What was that? I had never heard of it before. Too bad Pidge wasn’t around, she’d have an answer in seconds, she was honestly better than any search engine. 

I laid down next to the fire and closed my eyes, seeking out the warmth, letting it cover me like a blanket. 

**Keith**

I sat up breathless, “Where am I?” 

“Relax,” Lotor said, putting a finger to my forehead and pushing me back down into the bed. “You wake up in the infirmary half the days out of the year, and you still jump every time.” He said shaking his head with a light laugh. 

I closed my eyes, trying to remember what put me in the infirmary this time.  _ Lance _ . Lance had run away. I was in the Big House. Then it was black. 

“What happened, I don’t remember,” I said rushed, I tried to hold back my other question, but before Lotor could open his mouth it fell out of mine. “Lance?” 

“Well, it’s complicated because we don’t really know what happened, but apparently a weird metal thing Pidge had touched you and it knocked you out, and well branded you,” Lotor said, lifting my wrapped wrist into view. 

“It branded me?” I said confused, unwrapping my wrist slowly, but sure enough, white raised skin sat on my already pale skin. I traced over it lightly. “What is it?” 

“We have no idea, Pidge has been researching non stop for the last seven days to try and figure-” 

“Seven days!” I shouted, jumping out of the bed. “I have been out for seven days? Where is Lance? Did he come back?”   
“You lovesick fool, I tell you you’ve been asleep for seven days and your first question is about Lance,” Lotor said, shaking his head. “He is at the Hunter’s camp right now. So relax, we both know Thalia would fight her own father before someone laid a hand on him.” 

Ryan burst through the doors with some of his other Apollo cabin members carrying a girl on a gurney, “She just came tumbling down the hill, let’s get her cuts tended to and see if we can get her some nectar!” 

The Apollo kids made quick work in the infirmary, Ryan waving at me before getting back to the girl. 

“Ugh, I always hated the infirmary,” I said climbing slowly back into bed. My entire body seemed to ache and I couldn’t understand why. This hurt more than when I fell off the top of the rock climbing wall, and I didn’t even actually get hurt. 

“No you just hate it when Lance isn’t here,” Lotor said with a smirk. 

“Stop talking about him, I am mad at him,” I grunted crossing my arms. 

“I am sure Thalia will talk him into coming back, you can relax. He’ll be back before you know it ready to throw himself into your arms,” Lotor said, but Thalia’s stubbornness was only rivaled by two. Myself and Lance. I rolled over in my bed pulling the sheets over my head. 

“Just leave me be for now. I want to be alone,” I said, Lotor rested a hand on my shoulder before leaving. The commotion settled shortly after, there was only so much you could do before you just had to let a half-blood sleep off their injuries. 

Ryan gave a quick goodbye before leaving me alone with some unconscious stranger. I tried to think about the fun Lance would be having with the Hunters. Seven days, a whole week had passed and he still hadn’t come back, who knows, maybe Artemis finally changed her mind and let Lance join the hunt. I shook my head biting back a small laugh, we both knew that would never happen. 

_ We were sitting on the beach staring at the moon.  _

_ “How did the hunters find you?” I asked, Lance knew exactly what I was talking about. It was well known that the Hunters had helped Lance, Hunk, and Pidge on their journey to Camp Half Blood. Pidge had a backpack, Hunk had one of the silver jackets, and Lance had his own set of hunting knives, not that he ever used them.  _

_ “Ah, well isn’t that a story,” Lance said almost wistfully. “The hunters didn’t find us, I found Artemis. I was looking for food to bring back to Hunk and Pidge when I found a girl crying in an alley, she was maybe a little older than me at the time, maybe eight? She was covered in bruises and cuts. I helped her up. I asked her who did that to her, told her I would fight them. I wasn’t big, but I wouldn't’ go down with a fight.  _

_ “She told me that when I said that she became skeptical, thinking I was protecting her because I saw her a weak girl, until I said my next line. ‘But I am sure you did a number on who did this to you, you don’t look like a girl who’d go down without a fight.’ I asked her to come with me back to my camp, told her that we could have each other’s backs, it’d be safer that way. She agreed and followed me away from the town and into a forest. _

_ “A monster came for us, we fought bravely, but neither of us really had weapons on us. So I jumped at the monster trying to pin it down and I told her to run, I asked her to protect my friends. She transformed into her typical Hunt attire and age and killed the monster.  _

_ “I was completely shocked, and she told me she had been watching me. Hearing my cries and prayers in the night to get somewhere safe, to get my family somewhere safe. She told me I proved myself to her, that she would help me find somewhere safe.”  _

_ I looked on Lance fondly, there was little surprise in me when I heard it, it sounded exactly like Lance. Selfless, loving, true.  _

_ “Then when she brought me back to the camp Thalia tried to show all three of us some means of protecting ourselves. When I lifted the bow and arrow everyone quieted down, taking note of my form. I notched the arrow and let it fly, I didn’t hit the target, but I was in the center ring. I didn’t think much of it, but apparently I impressed even Artemis that day,” Lance said looking up to meet my eyes. “I have never told anyone this before, but I asked her if I could join her hunt. I told her I wanted to stand by her side and protect people. She shook her head sadly and told me that wasn’t exactly how the hunt worked, but she would give me something else instead.”  _

_ Tears came to Lance’s eyes as he continued, “She became my patron that day, something she had never done to a male demigod. Every time I shoot an arrow she is with me. Every time I look into the night sky I am comforted. And sometimes when I flirt too much I can feel her scolding.”  _

_ We both laughed at that.  _

_ “Don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret I hold close to my heart,” Lance whispered.  _

_ “Don’t worry, I’ve got your back and your secrets.”  _

Someone was touching my wrist. My eyes popped open and I growled at being drawn from my thoughts of a very beautiful boy. It was the girl who had come in. 

“Uh, hi, do you need something? I can grab Ryan or someone to help you,” I said, my tone short. 

“This, this symbol. It’s the symbol of severance,” she said before walking away to lay back into her own bed. 

“What the fuck?” I whispered under my breath looking at my wrist, it still tingled with her touch. Symbol of severance? What the hell was that? Perhaps if I had more energy I would go find Pidge and ask her, but I wasn’t really in the mood to move. 

So I stayed there thinking about Lance’s stupid smile. 

**Allura**

I was feeling rather restless, but I could pinpoint why exactly. I wondered if it had to do with my mother. A small part of me wondered how she was doing, if she was feeling better. Another part of me wondered what was happening to the mist. All the gods had been called to Olympus to try and resolve the matter. Artemis had been communicating very little with the rest of us, but her last message said if she doesn’t return by tomorrow she wants us to go to Camp Half Blood for the time being. 

I stepped into the clearing surprised to see someone sitting by the fire, I recognized it as the girl we brought into camp that day. I was glad to see she was doing better, but as I got closer the more wrong it became. 

The fire had obstructed her hair, because her hair was fire, her eyes red and beady.

“Empousa,” I breathed out, drawing my hunting knives. 

The monster looked at me with bloody fangs, and hissed. 

“Come to join the party have you, your friend was quite the treat,” the monster said licking her lips, my stomach dropped as I rounded the fire more to see Lance. He was lying on the ground, the hearth flickering just bright enough for me to see red dripping down his neck. 

A blood curdling scream came from my body as I threw one of my knives at the monster and dove for Lance, unfortunately the empousa easily dodged it and made an advance on me.

“I don’t usually go for girls, but I am supposed to make an exception,” the monster said gripping onto me with her claws and sinking teeth into my neck. I screamed again as she held tightly onto me. “Show time.” 

Lance grunted and sat up, eyes blown wide at the scene before him. His hands went to a bracelet around his wrist and it turned into a bow before both of our eyes, “Let her go you disgusting beast.” 

“That’s not what you called me earlier,” the empousa teased. 

“I said let her go,” Lance said, pulling back on the bow, a bronze arrow materializing before letting it go. With incredible precision it nailed the empousa in the leg, unfortunately it was her bronze leg. 

“Going to have to try harder than that boy,” the empousa spit before running away, dragging me along with her. Lance trailed after us, trying to keep up, but clearly a little dizzy from the blood loss. I was just amazed he was even still alive. 

I tried to kick up and make her let me go, but my own dizziness was taking over. It wasn’t until my body was thrown into cold water did I snap out of my daze long enough to watch the empousa toss me into a boat and push me away from the shore. The empousa turned ready to fight Lance. 

“Lance!” I tried to yell in warning, but it only distracted him, giving the empousa time to land a hard kick in his gut. 

She threw him in his own boat and pushed off. 

“Have fun,” the empousa cheered as I realized I was being pulled into a current, which didn’t make any sense, but the dizziness took over again and the stars winked at me before I closed my eyes. 

**Lotor**

“That’s mine you bitch!” 

I jumped awake at the commotion, it was likely well into the middle of the night, but I knew that voice. I climbed out of my bed quickly and grabbed my sword. 

Keith was running after the new camper, but the new camper looked very different. She had fiery hair, red eyes, and two different legs. What in Hades? 

“Why aren’t you freezing in my place?” she was hissing at him. 

“I don’t know what kind of trickery and bullshit you pulled, but if you don’t give me that bow I am going to rip you apart,” Keith yelled, double armed in swords. 

“What kind of trickery is you not paralyzing at the sight of an empousa in true form,” the monster hissed. 

“He’s gay, you bitch, now give back the bow,” I shouted before jumping to Keith’s side. 

“Ahh, so Revenge has come out to play, perfect,” the empousa smiled, her eyes locking onto mine and for a second I felt my feet freeze. No.  _ No.  _ My anger took over and I slashed at the monster, who jumped back in surprise releasing her hold on my feet. 

“Ugh you idiot boys,” she hissed before taking off towards the beach. 

Keith and I ran after her quickly. Keith crashed onto the sand, grabbing the abandoned bow and clutching it tightly in his grasp, “Where did that monster go, she’s going to pay.” 

“Right here.” I was too late, teeth sank into my neck. Keith was shouting, but I couldn’t hear it. When she released my neck she threw me into a boat that I hadn’t even realized was there. 

“Come get me, son of Ares,” she hissed.

I couldn’t see the fight, but Keith’s scream was all the indication I needed that he also lost. 

“Have fun,” the empousa yelled before the boat seemed to move far more quickly than a boat should in the ocean. I closed my eyes, letting the exhaustion take over. 


End file.
